“Our curriculum promotes social mobility; we give our children the roots to grow and the wings to fly.”

Christian vision: “Do your little bit of good where you are. It’s those bits of good put together that overwhelm the world” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Design Technology at St George’s

Intent 

One of our curriculum drivers is “Reach for the Stars” and through Design and Technology at St George’s we provide our children with a wide range of experiences and new opportunities which will help equip them with life skills they will require in later life. Throughout the teaching of Design Technology at St. George’s we aim to stimulate creativity and imagination. Our intent is that through designing and evaluating theirs and others’ creations the children will develop their resilience and will strengthen their perseverance by working through any problems they may encounter. Food Technology is planned for in detail and with graduated skills per year group focuses so our children will learn how to prepare, cook and evaluate some simple dishes before they leave us in Year 6. This is an essential part of our school driver “Healthy Body, Healthy Mind”.

Our intention is to develop children’s ability to communicate ideas, opinions and feelings about their own work and the work of others. Our Design and Technology curriculum has been designed to increase awareness of the roles and purposes of technology and design in different times and cultures. 

The children will plan and design creations through learning the knowledge of different techniques, the names and safe use of a variety of equipment and the vocabulary and perseverance to evaluate their own and others’ work.

Implementation 

At our school we teach Design and Technology to all children, whatever their ability. We do this by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different needs. Assessment against the National Curriculum allows us to consider each child’s attainment and progress made. 

At St George’s each class teacher plans three Design and Technology units over the course of the year and the children learn the skills and vocabulary outlined for their year group through these units.

The children’s ideas and processes are recorded in their topic books in KS1 and KS2, while in FS this is recorded through Tapestry in their areas of learning.

At the end of each learning unit we publish the children’s work in a variety of ways such as social media posts, through recording in the class shared book, on displays and in whole school assemblies.

Food technology at St George’s is unique in that we have our own allotment and use the food we harvest to cook with in our school dinners and every child will leave school having worked in our school kitchen to either make bread for the rest of the school or prepare the vegetables for dinner.

The Design and Technology subject leader is responsible for monitoring the standard of the children’s work through the moderation of topic books, the reading of medium-term plans, discussions with teachers, pupil interviews and the celebration of the finished product.

Impact  

All children at St. George’s receive a broad and balanced curriculum regardless of year group or ability. There is a clear progression of Design and Technology skills and knowledge, to ensure that all children access at an age-appropriate level. Children learn to work both independently and as part of a group, ensuring skills of resilience and teamwork are promoted.

Our children leave St George’s with the ability to use a range of materials and tools to create imaginative and useful products. Children are able to share their ideas, experiences and imagination and communicate this to their peers. They are able to discuss their next steps or changes to their work with peers and listen to the advice or opinion of others in relation to their product.

Our children use their topic books to record their work process and steps and use them to review and revisit ideas which in turn helps them to develop the overall process and product. They are able to use the correct terminology for methods, equipment and materials they use. 

Children have an awareness of a range of craftspeople and designers in history, and are able to describe the differences and similarities between different designs, making links to their own work.  Opportunities to engage in specific working groups, such as STEM Lego robotics within school and learning about national and international designers empowers our children to understand the significance and place of design and technology within the wider world. These opportunities excite and inspire our children’s thirst for knowledge and participation.