Intent

At Oldfield Park Infant School, we aim to provide inclusive opportunities for all children to use creativity and imagination to design and make products, considering their own and others’ ideas. We strive for our children to have a passion for this subject and aim to inspire them to be the designers and makers of our future. All children should leave our school with: the willingness to take creative risks in order to produce innovative ideas, through their design and ability to evaluate their outcome.

Implementation

At Oldfield Park Infant School, the Design and Technology curriculum consists of:

DT objectives taught through Topic Based Learning lessons. DT units are taught three times through the academic year, alternating with Art and Design. Our DT curriculum is based on the National Curriculum. 

The KS1 units of DT are covered through: food technology, materials, textiles, construction and mechanics. In the EYFS curriculum children are taught to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques. They think about uses and purposes, represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through DT when making.

Our School uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in Design and Technology lessons in order to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding.  Teachers provide a practical curriculum which involves children taking part in meaningful activities in which they are required to discuss their plans and evaluate their own and other’s work in a constructive way.  Within lessons, we give children the opportunity to work individually, in pairs and in group situations. Children have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources and will be supported to use tools and equipment safely and responsibly.

Pupils are taught:

Practical skills – developing the skills needed to make high quality products.

Design, make, evaluate and improve – developing the process of design thinking and seeing design as a process.

To take inspiration from design and technology throughout history – appreciating the design process and technological advances that have influenced the products we use in everyday life.

At Oldfield Park Infants, a selection of materials and tools are available for children’s use to enable them to access the subject and make informed choices.  It is imperative that all children are able to access these resources. Teachers teach the safe use of tools and equipment and insist on good practice prior to starting the making part of a task. These include:

Contact with sharp objects including wood, needles, saws, knives etc.

The handling of food– children needs to ensure they are aware of personal hygiene rules such as wearing a clean apron, washing hands before handling food, storing perishable foods appropriately.

Impact

We strive to ensure that our children’s attainment is in line with or exceeds their potential when we consider the varied starting points of all our children. At Oldfield Park Infant School, we can judge the success of our Design and Technology curriculum in the following ways:

Using a clear progression of skills.

Pupil and staff conferencing – are children happy, engaged, motivated to do well and challenged within the subject. Are children able to clearly express their opinions about DT?

Photographs and examples of work – they will show a clear progression of skills between the year groups.

The DT subject leader can articulate and explain the progression of skills through KS1.