DESIGN &
TECHNOLOGY
INTENT
At Fenstanton, we believe that all children should be provided with a curriculum that teaches and helps them to discover and develop their varied given gifts and talents. In Design & Technology, these gifts and talents will be nurtured and built upon through the development of the skills and knowledge needed to design, make and evaluate products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. As our curriculum is thematic in design, we aim to support children to transfer their developing knowledge and skills as aspiring designers and engineers to a range of rich learning contexts.
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IMPLEMENTATION
The Design and Technology projects are well sequenced to provide a coherent subject scheme that develops children’s designing, planning, making and evaluating skills. Each project is based around a design and technology subject focus of structures, mechanisms, cooking and nutrition or textiles. The Design and Technology curriculum’s electronic systems and IT monitoring and control elements are explicitly taught in our science projects to ensure the links between the subjects are highlighted. Where possible, meaningful links to other areas of the curriculum have been made. For example, the cooking and nutrition project Eat the Seasons is taught alongside the geography project Sow, Grow and Farm. All the projects follow a structure where children are introduced to key concepts and build up knowledge and skills over time, using a more comprehensive range of equipment and building, cutting, joining, finishing and cooking techniques as they progress through school. All projects contain focused, practical tasks in the Develop Stage to help children gain the knowledge and skills needed to complete their Innovate tasks independently. Throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, children build up their knowledge and understanding of the iterative design process. They design, make, test and evaluate their products to match specific design criteria and ensure they fit their purpose. Throughout the projects, children are taught to work hygienically and safely.
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IMPACT
The impact of our Design & Technology Curriculum is measured through a range of outputs:
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Formative, summative subject data which is produced from assessments as well as on-going teacher judgements
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Baseline assessments
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Book looks & Learning walks
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Pupils Voice - Pupil Conferencing and Lesson Visits
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Parent Voice - Working with parents/carers to gather a holistic view of the child both in and outside of school
