Design and technology

The aims of Design and Technology at Edward Francis Primary School are:

• To promote Design and Technology as a creative problem solving subject .
• To encourage positive attitudes towards and nurture enjoyment of Design and Technology work in school by celebrating the creative ideas, practical skills and aesthetic aspects of pupils’ designs.
• To provide quality teaching of materials, mechanisms and technologies and to encourage pupils to make the effort to get ‘hands-on’ with them to consolidate understanding of how they work.  
• To encourage a healthy respect of  safety through the reinforcement of correct procedures when using tools and equipment.
• To develop resilience when ideas don’t work and encourage a mindset of constant improvement through the DT Cycle:
  • Evaluate (Existing designs)
  • Explore relevant skills and technologies
  • Design a solution
  • Make
  • Evaluate (and improve)
• To encourage pupils to work both individually and in partnership with others. 
• To educate pupils about the origins of food, how to follow a healthy and varied diet and to give pupils the opportunity to practise food preparation and cooking in a safe and hygienic manner.

Curriculum and Policies

Our Design & Technology Policy outlines the intent, implementation and impact of DT teaching at EFPS and is aligned to the National Curriculum. We see DT as a creative, problem solving subject where children can explore a number of solutions to a design brief. We wish to nurture an investigative approach where children can learn new technologies, try out their ideas and refine their solutions within a safe, learning environment.

Each year group has the opportunity to follow the design process, researching similar products, learning about the material properties available and how to join them. We instruct the children on how to use a variety of cutting and joining tools and methods and then we encourage the children to make their own designs and evaluate them, commenting on how well their work satisfies the original design brief or solves the original problem.

We strive to provide progression in the following knowledge and skills;

Knowledge

• materials choice and strengthening methods
• wheels and axles
• levers and linkages
• electrical circuits
• gears and pulleys

Skills

• choosing materials based on their properties
• measuring & cutting materials
• joining materials
• understanding parts lists
• assembling components
• evaluating and improving designs