Saint Patrick’s Catholic Primary School

‘We arise today, to learn, love and grow through Jesus.’

At Saint Patrick’s, we aim to create an environment in which each individual has the opportunity to thrive supported by values of Christ firmly built into our everyday foundations. Education, welfare and wellbeing are at the heart of everything we do. Above all else, we want to foster a strong belief in all our children that they can succeed in all they do, no matter what. Working with all school parties, we wish to nurture each child’s potential and foster high aspirations. It is essential that we give them the tool kit needed to achieve their goals regardless of background or starting points.

Intent

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.

At Saint Patrick's, we believe that, through the study of Design and Technology, children learn to become problem solvers and innovators. Children study famous people who have influenced and developed the world that we live in, making sense of the modern world and enrich their understanding of technology in it. Through our curriculum, we aim to ensure that our children develop resilience and determination and the understanding that there are always improvements to be made as part of the design and make process. Through the study of cooking and nutrition, children are provided with key life skills to ensure they understand what a healthy diet consists of and how they can implement this within their own and their family’s lifestyle.

Throughout EYFS, children explore and create with a range of different materials.  By the end of EYFS, children can safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.  They share their creations, explaining the process the have used to make them.  Children use a range of small tools, including scissors and paintbrushes ad begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.

In KS1, through a wide variety of creative and practical activities, children are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage successfully in the process of designing and making. To ensure the learning is relevant, the children work in a range of contexts; for example, home and school, gardens and playgrounds, the local community, industry and the wider environment. As part of their learning experience with food, children are taught the basic principles of how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. By creating an interest in learning how to cook, children are able to express themselves in a different way to other curriculum areas. Children are taught the principles of this crucial life skill that enables them to feed themselves and others well, now and in later life.

In KS2, the learning from EYFS and Key Stage 1 are further developed, as part of a progressive continuum of skills and knowledge across the Design and Technology curriculum. Children are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making, through a wide variety of creative and practical activities. The children work in a range of relevant contexts, for example: the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment.

Children are taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating as part of their work with food. Linked closely to this, is instilling a love of cooking in our children (with children appreciating that this is one of the great expressions of human creativity) and that learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables children to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

Our curriculum aims to ensure that 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

The Design and Technology curriculum at Saint Patrick’s is organised into three topics per year group. The topics are grouped into strands taken from the National Curriculum (Materials/Construction & Mechanisms, Textiles, Cooking and Nutrition). A strand will be taught across the school at the same time enabling knowledge, skills and resources to be shared and developed as well as monitoring and assessment of the subject to be undertaken.

Our curriculum is driven through the iterative process of design, make, evaluate which are explored in a wide breadth of topics. Our curriculum is arranged so that pupils return to these same skills/concepts repeatedly, gradually building an understanding of them, whilst at the same time developing their technical knowledge of Food and Nutrition, Textiles, Electronics, Mechanisms, Materials and Construction.

The curriculum learning experiences of our children are enhanced by the wide variety of visitors and visits planned. We take advantage of the technology (both modern and historical) on our door step with year groups exploring places of interest from modern buildings and structures in the Town Centre, to the Leeds Liverpool Canal and the Steam Engine at Trencherfield Mill.

Implementation

The teaching of design and technology focuses on enabling children to become innovators, solving real life problems in both a local and worldwide context. Our principal aim is to develop the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding across all areas of Design and Technology. We believe that children learn best when:

• They have access to a wide variety of relevant equipment, tools and processes to support all areas of the Design and Technology curriculum

• They go on visits to sites of significance and places of interest.

• They have access to sources of information to support research and development of ideas.     

• They experience the breadth of the Design and Technology curriculum

• They are shown, or use independently, resources from the internet and videos.  

• They are provided with opportunities to work both independently and collaboratively to create small and large solutions to real life problems

• They are given time to reflect upon their work and the work of others both as an end product or as it develops

• They reflect on their own learning by giving them opportunities to create visual prompts enabling them to recall how they learned new knowledge or skills whilst solving a real life problem, as well as creating opportunities to identify links and relate other curriculum areas together.

We recognise that we have children of differing abilities in Design and Technology and we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities by matching the challenge of the task to the child’s ability in this particular subject area. We achieve this by:

• Setting open-ended tasks which can have a variety of responses.
• Grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each ability group.
• Providing resources of different complexity depending on the ability of the child.
• Using Teaching Assistants to support children individually or in groups.
• Organising children in such a way that they receive support from their peers.
• Providing resources, tools and techniques to support success rather than hinder

Impact

At Saint Patrick’s, we believe the welcoming, respectful environment, enriched in Catholic morals and teachings, continues to enhance the educational and pastoral experience of every individual passing through our doors, to ensure that they develop and become well-rounded individuals within the community, with the ambition to reach their potential and succeed. We recognise the unique needs of each child and support them in developing the whole child. We have a supportive ethos and our approaches support the children in developing both their collaborative and independent skills. The impact of our Design Technology curriculum is measured in the experiences, confidence and competence of our children within the subject. We ensure children receive the experiences they require, both within and beyond the curriculum, to develop their skills and knowledge and become confident designers and creators. By revisiting Design Technology concepts, children will deepen their understanding and be able to identify links and be able to relate different design concepts together. The progress children make in Design Technology throughout school is outstanding. Children typically enter school at below the expected level for ‘Expressive Art and Design’, but the average percentage of children for the past 3 years achieving Secure or above, at the end of Year 6 is 90%.

https://www.purplemash.com/sch/stpatrickswn1  - Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2

KS1 BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zb9d7ty 

Explore the Design Technology area to learn about:

• Cooking- Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Food Preparation
• Types of Materials and Combining Materials
• Mechanical and Engineering Components
• Controlling Systems Using Electronics

KS2 BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zyr9wmn 

Explore the Design Technology area to learn about: 

• Analysing, Designing & Planning Projects, 2D & 3D
• Types of Materials,  Combining Developing Materials
• Mechanical and Engineering Components
• Controlling Systems Using Electronics
• Cooking- Healthy Eating, Nutrition and Food Preparation

The Royal Opera House's Design and Make Programme

https://learning-platform.roh.org.uk/programme/design-and-make-design-challenge-primary

Unleash your creativity

Fun, new activities each week to get you singing, dancing, composing and making. Enjoy creative learning at home and complete the Challenge of the Week. We can’t wait to see what you produce #OurHouseToYourHouse.

https://learning-platform.roh.org.uk/create-and-learn/