Introduction:

This policy statement outlines the purpose, nature and management of the design and technology taught and learnt in Dovecote Green Primary School. The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of all teaching staff and should be overseen and monitored by the coordinator and head teacher.

Subject definition:

Design and technology is concerned with the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. The subject encourages children to become autonomous and creative problem-solvers, both individually and as a part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond by developing ideas, and eventually making products and systems.

Through the study of design and technology they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as of functions and industrial practices. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impact. Design and technology helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators.

Equal opportunities

All children in Dovecote Green are entitled to be taught design and technology, and measures are put in place to ensure that they receive the same provision of education. (See equal opportunities policy)

Learner entitlement

At Dovecote Green we ensure that all learners are engaged as full members of their school community, accessing the wider curriculum and all school activities and working wherever possible alongside their peers.

At Dovecote Green Primary School we ensure that all pupils have equality of opportunities. We teach Design and technology to all children, regardless of their ability seeking, where appropriate, to recognise the specific needs and sensitivities of individual children. Please refer to our Inclusion policy.

The lessons are differentiated in a variety of ways by tasks set, support, and expectations. (See differentiation policy).

More able and talented pupils may use increasingly challenging tools and equipment (with safety in mind) and are encouraged to make increasingly accurate measurements. Pupils can also create several mock models of their design to test any possible problems

Aims:

At Dovecote Green Primary School we aim to:

• To raise conscious awareness of the process of planning, making and evaluating as a cyclical process.
  • To meet a need and create for a purpose.
  • To broaden the children’s experiences, learning about materials and

learning to use resources to enhance their making skills.

• To allow children to explore technological developments as they happen, and their applications.
  • To solve problems from their mistakes, involving “a considerable degree of freedom in the learning situation”, learning valuable team- working skills and an awareness of basic health and safety requirements.
  • To enable children to see vital connections between academic and vocational learning, and they develop greater hand-eye co-ordination.

Objectives:

• To enable children to talk about how things work, and to draw and model their ideas.
  • To encourage children to select appropriate tools and techniques for making a product, whilst following safety procedures.
  • To explore attitudes towards the made world and how we live and work within it.
  • To develop an understanding of technological processes and products, their manufacture and their contribution to our society.
  • To foster enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose in designing and making things.

Role of the DT coordinator

• To liaise with the head teacher, Senior Management Team and Governors on Design and technology issues.
  • To write and review Design and technology evaluations, action plans, policies and schemes of work.
  • To lead staff on the effective strategies of teaching Design and technology.
  • To develop assessment processes and portfolios of Design and technology across the school.
  • To monitor Design and technology across the school.
  • To keep up to date with the latest developments of Design and technology and best practice of teaching Design and technology.
  • Promote computing in the subject.
  • Manage a budget and the auditing, ordering and maintaining all Design and technology resources used in school in consultation with other members of staff.

Progression in DT in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1:

In the foundation phase, a child’s designing and making skills should be developed through using information to generate ideas; this should lead to stimulating and creative making opportunities across all Areas of Learning. Children’s progression in design and technology capability should be observed with an understanding of child development and the stages children move through.

Design Technology at Key Stage 2:

At key stage 2, learners should be given opportunities to build on their experiences during the Foundation Stage. They should be taught to design and make simple products by combining their designing and making skills with knowledge and understanding in contexts that support their work in other subjects and help develop their understanding of the made world. Learners should be made aware of human achievements and the big ideas that shaped the world. They should be encouraged to be creative and innovative in their designing and making while being made aware of issues relating to sustainability and environmental issues in the twenty-first century.

Teaching Strategies:

We use a variety of teaching strategies in Design technology to accommodate all learners’ needs. The use of thinking tools are central to develop pupil’s knowledge and understanding of the subject. (See teaching and learning policy.)

Organisation and Class environment:

Design Technology is taught primarily in the classroom, but use of larger spaces such as the school hall, playgrounds, pond area and playing fields are made use of where appropriate.

Planning:

The subject coordinator ensures that there is a curriculum map overview accessible to the whole school. The school uses a variety of units either planned by the subject coordinator, class teacher or based on units from QCA and Nuffield scheme. Teachers use a weekly planning sheet to plan lessons. Lessons are then evaluated and feed into following week’s planning. (See planning policy).

Key Skills:

Developing thinking

Learners develop their thinking across the curriculum through the processes of planning, developing and reflecting.

In design and technology, learners design and make products through the iterative process of creating and developing ideas, designing products, planning, making and reflecting on their decisions and outcomes in term of their finished product.

Developing communication

Learners develop their communication skills across the curriculum through the skills of oracy, reading, writing and wider communication.

In design and technology, learners ask questions and seek out information to develop and support their design ideas. They communicate and record their ideas and intentions by explaining, writing, sketching, using detailed technical drawings and three-dimensional models.

Developing computing

Learners develop their computing skills across the curriculum by finding, developing, creating and presenting information and ideas and by using wide range of equipment and software.

In design technology, learners research and develop their ideas by using computing to find information databases and the Internet. They communicate and present their ideas using word processors, presentation software, iPad apps that enhance design opportunities.

Developing number

Learners develop their number skills across the curriculum by using mathematical information, calculating and interpreting and presenting findings.

In design technology, learners use mathematical information and data, presented numerically and graphically, to research and develop their ides. They use number to measure, weigh and calculate sizes, fits and materials.

Assessment for Learning:

Each class teacher is responsible for implementing assessment for learning and fully involving the children in the process. The subject leader is responsible for monitoring and supporting class teachers in the implementation of this process.

Assessment for Learning is an integral part of the teaching cycle with ongoing assessment forming part of everyday teaching. Discussions with pupils employing a range of questioning techniques and marking of pupils work indicating next steps will form the basis of this assessment. These assessments are included within the lesson evaluations and will be used to inform future teaching strategies, planning and next steps of children’s learning.

Reporting to parents:

The progress of the children is reported to parents annually in the form of the end of year written report, and in parental consultations when necessary and appropriate to do so.

Cross curricular themes:

Design and technology should be, where possible, taught through all learning experiences at foundation stage. At key stage 1 and 2, skills taught through design and technology, e.g. designing and working through problems, are integrated where appropriate into contexts for learning, thus enabling pupils to use their skills in real contexts.

Resources:

The school has a resource room where all design and technology resources are kept and regularly audited and replenished. There are also ‘food’ boxes containing suitable utensils and mixing and weighing equipment suitable for food topics.

Parental support / Links with the community:

Design and technology lends its self to links with industry and the wider community of the school. The school has links with science and DT for kids who run an innovation workshop after school.

Monitoring and reviewing

The subject is continually monitored on a formal and informal basis. The coordinator observes whole lessons, and parts of lessons as a part of ‘learning walks’. Planning and displays are also monitored. The whole subject is evaluated annually and an action plan is written from the findings, linked closely with whole school priorities.

Personal, social and moral education

In design and technology, learners should work in contexts that allow them to make decisions based on the values that underpin society, helping them become active and informed citizens. As a key National priority, Design and technology is promoted to encourage innovation. They should be made aware of human achievements and the big ideas that have shaped the world. They should be encouraged to be enterprising and innovative in their designing and making, while having regard for sustainability and environmental issues in the twenty-first century.

Food hygiene and safety issues. (See risk assessments)

Children should be taught to use any design and technology resources comfortably, safely and responsibly. Class teachers are responsible for the safe storage and use of tools, utensils and materials in their own classrooms. The design and technology co-ordinator is responsible for the storage and maintenance of tools, utensils and materials in shared areas.

As food is an important strand of the design and technology framework, it is essential that all staff and children taking part are aware of potential health issues when handling food stuffs, use of cooking appliances including ovens and hobs, contact with sharp utensils and are aware of personal hygiene, e.g. jewellery, hair and eye protection.

It is the duty of all staff to:

• Recognise and assess the hazards and risks to themselves and others when working with food and other materials.
  • Take action to control these risks and hazards.
  • Be familiar with the contents of the Health and Safety Policy in general. Coordinator          

Headmaster                               

Governor:                                          Date