Intent - Why do we teach what we teach? 

At Shakespeare we aim to foster a love of design and technology and for all children to see themselves as Young Designers, understanding the roll design technology plays in the wider world.  Design and technology is about designing SOMETHING, for SOMEBODY and for some PURPOSE.  Many core values such as persistence, resilience, team work and problem solving are something we aim to embed in all DT lessons as children learn new skills and continuously modify their designs and ideas.

Implementation - What do we teach and when? 

The implementation of the United Curriculum for Design & Technology reflects our broader teaching and learning principles:

For Design & Technology in particular:

Early Years

In the Early Years, Design and Technology is taught through the area of Expressive Arts and Design (EAD). This is split into two aspects:

These two areas of learning overlap and feed into each other.  EAD is an important outlet for imagination, thoughts and ideas, but in addition EAD links with many other areas of the curriculum in beneficial ways.

In the very early stages of their learning journeys, our children have daily opportunities to explore and experiment with a wide range of media and materials. We support and encourage them to be creative, and experiment with different resources to create outcomes of their own choice. We directly teach children the skills and techniques that they need, so that they can then independently use these in their own creations. We foster the love of the creative arts and value our children’s work.  

Impact

The careful sequencing of the curriculum – and how concepts are gradually built over time – is the progression model. If pupils are keeping up with the curriculum, they are making progress. Formative assessment is prioritised and is focused on whether pupils are keeping up with the curriculum.

In general, this is done through:

Books/products/ and pupil-conferencing

Talking to pupils about their work allows teachers to assess how much of the curriculum content is secure. These conversations are used most effectively to determine whether pupils have a good understanding of the vertical concepts, and if they can link recently taught content to learning from previous units.

Formative assessment in lessons

There are opportunities for formative assessment in the lesson slides provided, and teachers continually adapt their lesson delivery to address misconceptions and ensure that pupils are keeping up with the content. Formative assessment will also include using Graphic Organisers to revisit prior and learn new knowledge.

Low-stakes summative assessment

We also use quizzes at the end of the unit to assess whether pupils have learned the core knowledge for that unit. These are used formatively, and teachers plan to fill gaps and address misconceptions before moving on.