Curriculum Area - Design and Technology

Mrs M Watt (Infant School) and Miss G Payne (Junior School) are our Art and Design Curriculum Leaders.

Intent

We recognise that Design and Technology is a central part of our World. At Chalfont St Giles Village School, we aim to develop skills and knowledge in design, structures, mechanisms, electrical control and food.  All our projects involve making functional products. It is a subject which nurtures creativity and innovation, drawing relevance from the world around us.

Implementation

Learning overviews have been created for every topic covered during the year (one per term). The plans identify:

• The core theme which is used as the basis for cross-curricular learning
• The main design and technology subject knowledge to be covered in relation to the theme
• Key design and technology skills to be covered during the unit of work

Teachers refer to the EYFS curriculum, the National Curriculum Programmes of Study and Key Skills and other relevant guidance including our curriculum progressions. Topic guides are shared with parents to inform them of the learning that their child will experience that term.

Medium Term Planning

For Foundation Subjects, a sequence of core lesson objectives have been identified to be covered as part of their theme. Teachers are encouraged to be flexible, and may choose to stagger or block lessons as they feel is most appropriate to the needs and interests of their class.

Through-out the school design and technology lessons are broken down into:-

1. Activities which involve investigating and evaluating existing products.
2. Focused practical tasks in which children develop particular aspects of knowledge and skills.
3. Designing and making activities in which children design and make ‘something’ for ‘somebody’ for ‘some purpose.’
4. Evaluation

Our D&T projects are built into our creative curriculum topics and follow the current theme. It is an exciting subject that has great relevance to the historical and modern world. Who knows, we could have the next great designer amongst us! 

Chalfont St. Giles School ensures that children have the opportunity to develop in all three of these areas, and teachers use ideas linked to the terms topic to develop these skills.  Planning for continuity and progression is an important consideration in the school’s long term planning. We are committed to constantly evaluating and developing our provision. As a school, we look for opportunities to widen our experience, refresh our creativity and enable us to approach our teaching with vigour and passion.

Curriculum Enrichment

From Foundation Stage through to Year 6, opportunities will be taken to extend and enrich the curriculum beyond the statutory requirements through:

• the use of the school grounds, the locality and the wider environment;
• themed weeks, e.g. STEM week, Arts Week
• educational visits;
• drama workshops and other visitors, e.g. artists
• support of parents.

At Chalfont St Giles Village School, we provide learning opportunities for the needs of individual children of all genders from all ethnic and social groups, including the most able and those who are experiencing learning difficulties. We aim to enable all pupils to make progress by setting suitable learning challenges and responding to each child’s different needs. Assessment against the learning objectives allows us to consider each child’s attainment and progress against expected levels.

Impact

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment and progress in foundation subjects is in line with or exceeding their potential when we consider the varied starting points of children. We measure this carefully using a range of materials, but always considering the expectations set.   We have high aspirations and aim for all children to be academically and physically prepared for the next stage of their education and ready for life in Modern Britain and the wider world. As children progress throughout the school, they develop deeper design and technology subject knowledge and skills, they use their imagination to innovate and communicate their ideas and thoughts. The Children also regularly examine the work of designers, discussing and thinking critically about their work as well as using them to inform their own work.