Statement of Intent: Design & Technology

The main aim of this document is to highlight what, why and how Design and technology is taught at The Sherwood School. Design and Technology develops children’s skills and knowledge in design, mechanisms and a range of materials, including food. It encourages children to think creatively and collaboratively, thus allowing them to work together and build on their ideas and make connections with several concepts. 

The children at The Sherwood School will be taught Design and Technology in a way that ensures progression of skills and follows a sequence to build on prior learning. Through teaching D & T it offers pupils with creative-thinking, decision-making skills and problem solving that are necessary in other areas of the curriculum.

Implementation

We follow the National Curriculum in England 2014 framework for Design and Technology as the foundation for its curriculum planning and we follow STEAM project which is linked with science, computing and maths. We build on children’s prior learning and follow a Design and Technology skills for progression map which covers the skills and concepts the teachers should follow whilst teaching Design and Technology in their classroom.

At The Sherwood School, we make Design and Technology an enjoyable learning experience from the Early Years, right through to Year 6. In the Early Years, activities for children to use their imagination to design, draw, build and play are woven into daily planning through the 'Understanding the World' Early Learning Goal. In all other year groups, children will have a Design and Technology lesson which corresponds to the year group's theme. The pupils at The Sherwood School carry out design and technology projects throughout the academic year and will have to think, decide and plan, as well as make and create. For children, having to think about the purposes and users for their products enables them to create quality products which have purpose and meaning.

Impact

The impact of using the resources and variety of materials in Design and Technology lessons and across school will allow pupils to have a deeper understanding of the world and the purpose of the objects around them. Whilst D&T lesson are being taught the use of technical vocabulary will be implemented, which will be used by all learners. Whole-school and parental engagement will be improved through the use of Design and Technology-specific home learning tasks.

The Sherwood school wants to ensure that D&T is enjoyed by pupils and teachers, encouraging engagement with learning which will continue to build  skills and understanding into the future.

In terms of teacher assessment, the impact on learning can be measured through key questioning built into lessons, peer assessment, self-assessment and summative assessments which are aimed at next steps in learning.