Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement
Intent
At Lewannick, children receive a design and technology curriculum which allows them to exercise their creativity through designing and making. The children are taught to combine the key skills learnt with their knowledge and understanding in order to design and make a product. Skills are taught progressively to ensure that all children are able to learn and practice in order to develop as they move through the school. Evaluation is an integral part of the design process and allows children to adapt and improve their product, a key skill which they need throughout their life. We aim to provide opportunities for children to apply the knowledge and skills learned in other subjects, particularly Maths, Science and Art, to their learning in DT. Children’s interests are captured through theme learning, ensuring that links are made in a cross curricular way, giving children motivation and meaning for their learning.
Implementation
Our whole curriculum is shaped by our school vision which aims to enable all children, regardless of background, ability, additional needs, to flourish to become the very best version of themselves they can possibly be.
The Design and technology National curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design process is underpinned by technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical, and technical understanding required for each strand. Cooking and nutrition* has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.
The National curriculum organises the Design and technology attainment targets under four
subheadings: Design, Make, Evaluate, and Technical knowledge. These are Lewannick’s Key Strands.
Cooking and nutrition is given a particular focus in the National curriculum and we have made
this one of our six key areas that pupils revisit throughout their time at Lewannick.
In our curriculum, pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in the six key areas.
Each of our key areas follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum. It is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revisit and build on their previous learning.
Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.
Impact
The impact of our Design & Technology curriculum is constantly monitored through both formative
and summative assessment opportunities. We use end of unit quizzes and ‘knowledge catchers’ to support assessments. After the implementation of our curriculum, pupils will leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.
The expected impact is that children will:
➔ Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
➔ Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping,
decorating, and manufacturing products.
➔ Build and apply a repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients, and scenarios.
➔ Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.
➔ Have an appreciation for key individuals, inventions, and events in history and of today that impact our world.
➔ Recognise where our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.
➔ Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
➔ Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Design and technology.
➔ Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Computing.