Why do we teach this?

It is our intention that children leave Our Lady’s with the skills to be able to design, make and evaluate products and mechanisms to use in the future. We encourage children to think critically and work both independently and as part of a team to analyse, evaluate and improve products and mechanisms to strive for excellence and become future designers and innovators in the modern world.

Why do we teach it in the way that we do?

Evaluating designs and asking questions enables children to think as designers and engineers. We inspire our children by showcasing examples from the great inventors and designers from the past to inspire new ideas to create thinking for the future.

How do we implement our vision in our school?

We follow the objectives of the Early Years Framework (2021) and the National Curriculum (2014). When there are clear cross-curricular links, Design Technology is taught as part of termly topics and related to the Big Question to provide purpose and meaning.
Design Technology progression of skills is taught over a rolling two-year cycle (Year A and Year B) with particular attention made to the skills of designing, making and evaluating when focusing on:

• Mechanics
• Computing
• Materials
• Construction
• Textiles
• Electronics
• Food and Nutrition

Teachers provide verbal feedback ‘in the moment’ using assessment for learning as the evidence for their judgements towards age-related expectations.

By the time our children leave Our Lady’s, they are confident designers who can design, make and evaluate a range of products and have acquired the knowledge and skills ready for the next stage of their education and onto the pathway towards a career in Design Technology and Engineering. Through a variety of teaching strategies, children know how Design Technology has changed the world through the methods of research and development. Our children can confidently include DT evidence to support their answers to the ‘Big Questions’ which are skills that they will use to solve the future engineering challenges of the modern world.

How do we monitor and review the impact of Design Technology at our school?

The DT subject leader uses the following lines of enquiry to assess the impact of the DT curriculum:

• The profile of creativity in Early Years.
• Opportunities for creativity and early engineering in the indoor and outdoor classroom environments in Early Years.
• DT assessment data on Target Tracker (Years 1-6).
• Discussions with pupils: can children discuss the skills of design, make, evaluate and improve as engineers?
• Discussions with teachers.
• Learning behaviour in the classrooms.
• Culture of DT across the school.
• Extracurricular opportunities in DT.