Design & Technology

Intent

At Sandhills Primary School we believe Design & Technology is essential to prepare pupils to participate in and enjoy the world’s rapidly changing technologies. D&T provides opportunities for children to: observe, investigate, respond to and record the world around them.

Teachers encourage pupils to develop their investigating, designing, making and evaluating skills by thinking creatively. We want our pupils to develop their skills in Design & Technology so that they can be creative but also precise, mathematical and scientific in their engineering of new concepts; and to share their excitement and motivation to learn.

We aim to provide a curriculum that enables pupils to demonstrate our values of Respect, Responsibility, Resilience and Relationships through the following: using their own thinking and questioning skills; articulating their ideas; working collaboratively and taking into account the views of others; making critical judgments; developing their resilience through taking risks and solving problems; working independently and with confidence; developing self-awareness.

Implementation

Pupils are taught Design & Technology in termly units. Each Design & Technology unit will follow the skills and knowledge progression set out by our curriculum.

During a teaching unit, pupils will be taught to research, design, make and evaluate products themselves. They will be taught to use a range of tools and materials. Pupils will also be taught the technical knowledge and vocabulary required to engineer successful products. 

During each Design & Technology unit, lessons will take place weekly.

Design & Technology in EYFS

We teach our EYFS pupils to: 

● know how to operate simple equipment 

● show an interest in technological toys with knobs or pulleys, or real objects such as cameras or mobile phones 

● show skill in making toys work by pressing parts or lifting flaps to achieve effects such as sound, movements or new images 

● know that information can be retrieved from computer

 ● recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools: select and use technology for particular purposes