Mission Statement:

Through the Holy Redeemer, we seek to grow in faith and love, to become great people who make a difference in our world.

Our aim:

Our for design and technology is for it to: be an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject, which stimulates creativity and imagination: provide experiences which are visual, tactile and sensory and that teach children a special way of understanding and responding to the world; and enable children to communicate what they see, feel and think through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and different materials and processes. DT should be a subject in which pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, children will develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world, so they are able to become involved in shaping their environments through art and design activities. They will learn to make informed judgements on aesthetic, practical decisions, as well as explore ideas and meanings through the work of artists and designers and gain an appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts that will enrich their lives. All of this is underpinned by our whole school focus on Building Learning Power and on developing higher order thinking, with a particular focus on spoken language and vocabulary and on resilience and risk-taking; identified as key needs within our school context.

Intent:

In both key stages children learn through a variety of creative and practical activities such as junk modelling in key stage 1 to making wooden, mechanical toys in key stage 2. During this design, build, evaluate phase, pupils are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage with different tools and materials. They work in a range of relevant contexts for example: the home and school, gardens / playgrounds and at times out in the local community such as the University of Worcester.
As part of their work with food, pupils are taught how to cook safely and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. We aim to Instill a love of cooking in pupils, which opens the 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.
The aims of design and technology are:
• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world;
• to develop creativity and imagination through a range of complex activities;
• to enable children to record from first-hand experience and from imagination, and to select their own ideas to use in their work;
• 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;
• to improve the children’s ability to control materials, tools and techniques;
• to develop increasing confidence in the use of visual and tactile elements and materials;
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others;
• to increase their critical awareness of the roles and purposes of art and design in different times and cultures;
• to foster an enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts and a knowledge of artists, craftspeople and designers;
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook for enjoyment and as a life skill in line with our healthy eating policy.

Implementation

Planning
Our school implements design and technology from the national curriculum programmes of study scheme of work relevant to the subject.
In the long term planning, we take the objectives for each key stage and plan a sequential scheme through those classes, which best connects to other areas of the selected year groups topics in other subjects creating a broad and balanced curriculum.
Holy Redeemer is very keen to take a pioneering role within the community and therefore make links where industrial work can be applied such as the University of Worcester.
Our medium term plans give details of each unit of work for each term. In previous years, we have accommodated mixed-age classes; therefore, the medium term planning is based on a two-year rotation cycle. In this way, we ensure that children have complete coverage of the National Curriculum but do not have to repeat topics.
Teaching
Each class teacher creates their own plan for each lesson. These daily lessons plans list specific learning objectives.
We believe that sequential planning of the topics, not only in design and technology, should build upon prior learning. Children of all abilities have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge in each unit and through planned progression built into the scheme of work, we offer them an increasing challenge as they move up the school. Technical building, such as levers and mechanisms should be linked to cross curricular science as much as possible.
Active learning plays a key role in organised discussions, self and peer assessment (evaluation) and they present their prototypes from designs and, when they are completed, final products.
Children should be given the chance to work with different tools and materials. Design and technology should offer a coverage of resistant materials, sewing and cooking. Children should be taught about health and safety and all activities need to be risk assessed.
The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in lessons. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in design and technology. We ensure that the act of investigating and making something includes exploring and developing ideas, and evaluating and developing work.
We do this best through a mixture of whole-class teaching and individual/group activities. Teachers draw attention to good examples of individual performance as models for the other children. We give children the opportunity within lessons to work on their own and collaborate with others, on projects in two and three dimensions and on different scales. Children also have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources, including ICT.
We recognise the fact that there are children of widely different of artistic and practical abilities in all classes and we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child supported by a teaching assistant if required.

Impact

D&T is often one of a child’s favourite subjects. Children like making decisions for themselves and doing practical work. They love creating products they can see, touch – and even taste – for themselves. They feel proud to have done so.”
Design and Technology Association, 2020
“D&T brings learning to life. It is a motivating context for discovering literacy, mathematics, science, art, PSHE and ICT. Primary Design and Technology also provides a firm basis for later learning in the subject and a platform for developing skills in literacy and numeracy.”
Design and Technology Association, 2020
We assess children’s work in design and technology by making informal judgements as we observe them during lessons, in the design, build, evaluate stages as well as their final product.
Once the children complete a piece of work, teachers use formal assessment and use this information to plan for future learning. A benchmark is available to teachers grading children either: emerging, secure or working at greater depth for design and technology against their year group objectives. Reporting to parents occurs annually with a written report and through parent evenings. Currently, there isn’t any form of formal, written assessment for design and technology in our school.
We have a short supply of resources in our school to be able to teach design and technology. Where we do not own specialist equipment, we will outsource our learning to an external, verified provider. There is a small supply of hand operated tools, kitchen equipment/cookers and sewing equipment within school. We also have a good relationship with local building merchant, who will supply materials at a low cost. In the library, we have a good supply of design and technology topic books, which are accessible at any time.
The current Headteacher: Christina Hall and the current subject co-ordinator: Russell Hawtree are responsible for monitoring the standard of the children’s work and the quality of teaching in design and technology. They are also responsible for supporting colleagues in the teaching of design and technology, for being informed about current developments in the subject, and for providing a strategic lead and direction for the subject in the school.

‘We cannot teach people anything,
we can only help them discover it within themselves’
Galileo Galilei