Intent

At Christ the King, we want our children to be innovative and creative thinkers through ideation, creation and evaluation. We set out to inspire children to develop their confidence as well as experiment and create their own unique designs, building on their prior learning. Following ‘Kapow’ and using sequenced lessons, children have the opportunity to develop a good breadth of both knowledge and skills, combining their understanding of six key areas. Children will take risks and become reflective learners, applying the skills they have learnt into their own technical pieces of work. Children will have an awareness of the impact design and technology; understanding the jobs it creates, and how they can create and design a product that could have a positive effect on our planet.

Implementation

Design and Technology is a crucial part of school life and learning. This is implemented in a clear progression of skills that are shown through our DT curriculum in all areas. Our DT lessons have a clear contextual, historical and technical understanding so that our children comprehend why we are creating this product and why the product is important. Our key areas of learning are revisited throughout the key stages, starting at early years. Independent tasks, paired and group work happen throughout as well as practical and technical tasks that are hands-on and often computer-based. Our lessons are engaging, appealing to a variety of learning styles, using knowledge organisers for each unit and focusing on key vocabulary. Each project, from early years to year 6, addresses the principles of designing, making and evaluating, incorporating the relevant technical knowledge.

Impact

Through this, children at Christ the King will have clear enjoyment and confidence in Design and Technology that they will then be able to apply to other areas of the curriculum. Children will understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and how to use and combine tools. As children are deeply involved in the evaluation process of DT, they are able to discuss their likes and dislikes, as well as explore and record their experiences using the different DT disciplines and formal elements. We hope our children leave Year 6 with no restraint on what they can achieve within their design skills at school, home and in their future lives.

SMSVC and British values in Design and Technology at Christ the King School

We aim to develop SMSVC through Design and Technology by:

Spiritual

 • To provide opportunities to exercise imagination, inspiration, intuition and insight through creativity and risk taking when evaluating, designing and making a range of products.

 • To develop deep thinking and problem solving through the ability to question needs and wants of different users.

• To instil awe, wonder and mystery when studying the natural world and human design.

• To encourage creative thinking and allow pupils to express their thoughts when reflecting on ‘why?’, ‘how?’ and ‘where?’

 Moral

 • To encourage pupils to value the environment and its natural resources and consider the environmental impact of everyday products.

• To educate pupils to be responsible consumers.

• To give pupils an awareness of the moral dilemmas created by technological advances.

Social

 • To promote creative thinking and opportunities to express ideas in a range of ways.

• To encourage teamwork and cooperation with others.

• To encourage pupils to critique each other’s ideas in a meaningful and helpful way.

• To be open-minded, listen to the ideas of others and recognise each other’s strengths.

• To provide opportunities for pupils to share equipment.

• To promote equality opportunities for all.

Vocations

• Pupils are encouraged to consider in Design and Technology the many different vocations where they can use both their knowledge and skills.

Cultural

• To reflect on innovative products and inventions.

• To understand the diversity of materials and ways in which Design and Technology can improve the quality of life.

• To investigate how different cultures have contributed to technology and reflect upon these products and inventions

British values in Design and Technology at Christ the King

We aim to promote British values through the Design and Technology curriculum:

British values, including those of democracy -understanding how designs have been rejected. Knowing that individual liberty allows us to make our own choices in design. Tolerance for other cultures and beliefs, our pupils will experience, explore and talk about designs from a range of cultures and beliefs.