• Aims of the Design and Technology Curriculum

The National Curriculum for Design and Technology aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users
• Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook

• Aims of the Design and Technology Curriculum at Lancaster Christ Church School

Through the teaching of Design and Technology at Lancaster Christ Church, we aim to:

• facilitate opportunities for children to be active participants and investigators in their own learning;
• create a sense of awe and curiosity in the world around us;
• equip our children with the skills and attitudes they need to successfully contribute to our future society
• develop confident, independent learners with a strong sense of self-worth
• equip children to be ambassadors for the future.

• Statutory Requirements

The statutory requirements for the teaching of Design and Technology, as outlined in the National Curriculum Programme of Study are as follows:

Key stage 1

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts.

Design

• Design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
• Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups, and where appropriate, information and communication technology

Make

• Select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing]
• Select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics

Evaluate

• Explore and evaluate a range of existing products
• Evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria

Technical knowledge

• Build structures, explaining how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
• Explore and use mechanisms in their products.

 Key stage 2

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills, needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts.

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

• Use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
• Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make

• Select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks[for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately
• Select from and use a wider range of materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities  

Evaluate

• Investigate and analyse a range of existing products
• Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
• Understand how key individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world

Technological Knowledge

• Apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
• Understand and use mechanical systems in their products [for example, gears, pulleys, cams levers and linkages]
• Understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches bulbs, buzzers and motors]
• Apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Cooking and Nutrition

As part of their work with food, pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

Pupils should be taught to:

Key Stage 1

• Use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes
• Understand where food comes from

Key Stage 2

• Understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet
• Prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques
• Understand seasonality and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

• How is the Design and Technology Curriculum planned at Lancaster Christ Church?

At Lancaster Christ Church, we are committed to providing a broad and balanced curriculum which provides rich opportunities for children to explore a range of subjects, thus developing a variety of knowledge, skills and interests which they can apply to opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life.

We value the individuality of our children and their various curriculum strengths and interests. As a school, we aim to provide opportunities for children to build upon these to become the best that they can be:

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

1 Peter 4: 10

We have developed a Design and Technology curriculum which:

• starts from what the children already know, to provide a foundation for the development of further knowledge and skills;
• is logically sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before;
• uses a spiral approach so that children have an opportunity to connect new knowledge with existing knowledge;
• clearly identifies the six key principles of Design and Technology within a theme and ensures that there is a strong link between these and the activities planned for the children (user / purpose / functionality / design decisions / innovation / authenticity).