In this section of the website, you will find information about our approach to teaching Design & Technology at Howletch Lane Primary School.
Intent
At Howletch Primary School, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators and risk-takers.
In line with the National Curriculum: Design and Technology programmes of study: Key stages 1 and 2, we aim to plan inspiring and enriching learning specifically for a purpose by:
- Designing purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria.
- Select from and use a wide range of materials and components.
- Explore and evaluate a range of existing products.
- Build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.
Implementation
Design and Technology taught at Howletch Primary School ensures pupils learn through a variety of creative and practical activities. We believe knowledge, understanding and skills are needed to engage children in an iterative process of designing and making. We encourage children through setting family homework’s to work creatively with their families in order to learn new skills, apply and build on knowledge learnt through school-based learning. This therefore allows them to think outside the box to use a range of resources. Across Key Stage 2, children from each year group are chosen to become Digital leaders. They are tasked with the responsibility of promoting correct use of technology and being safe online. Within Howletch, we acknowledge children use technology widely outside of school and therefore feel it is our responsibility to ensure children have the knowledge and understanding to enable them to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
Impact
Though ensuring all children in our school are educated by developing creativeness, technical and practical expertise, it enables them to perform everyday tasks confidently. We imbed this through our curriculum maps specifically planning for a purpose within Design and Technology. We achieve this by thriving to give every opportunity to solve real life problems and to consider alternative materials specific to a particular audience. At the end of each unit, we encourage children to be reflective on their designs. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.
Design & Technology in the Early Years:
Design and Technology sits very prominently within the areas of understanding of the world and expressive arts and design. From an early age, the children at Howletch Primary School learn to develop and make sense of their physical world through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about technology. They will do this through creating their own flags through different medias, designing and making a picnic for an alien as well as using experimenting with different materials such as clay in order to create fossil printing. All our learning opportunities at Howletch imbed each child’s interests and to build upon these with exciting and enjoyable learning experience
