Design Technology at Ravenswood
At Ravenswood, our DT curriculum helps our children to be imaginative and creative. We want our children to learn by doing, to take risks and solve problems, to develop new skills and therefore create ideas and products they are proud of.
Through our Design Technology curriculum, children pull together their knowledge of science, maths, computing and art to:
- develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks
- perform tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
- build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design
- build prototypes and products for a wide range of users.
- critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
- understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.
In EYFS, their curriculum is designed around the expectations of the EYFS framework and DT fits into the Expressive Arts and Design strand of the latter. Children are encouraged to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function with a focus on process rather than product.
In KS1 and KS2, the QCA scheme is used to deliver the National Curriculum strands (Design, Make, Evaluate, Technical Knowledge and Cooking/Nutrition). Its cyclical approach ensures previous skills are revisited to allow children to build on their learning and improve their skillset. It is designed to be delivered through 3 units, one per term. Often, each unit will be part of a DT week, taught as a series of lessons over 5 days. However, it is up to the individual year group to decide if this is the best way to deliver the content depending on the activity and the age of the year group. It is also up to the year group to decide when this DT week occurs in the term, as teachers are in a better position to determine how it fits in with the year group’s schedule or any cross curricular learning that needs to take place beforehand.
Resources are made available for children to enable them to accomplish their ideas and designs.
A typical series of lessons will consist of:
- an introduction to the task where the need is established;
- a research phase where the pupils look into the task and how it could be completed;
- a planning stage where the pupils (individually, in pairs or small groups) plan and design the construction of their project;
- depending on the skills required or skill level of the class, there may be a practice session where the skills needed to complete the main task are taught or practised;
- a building phase where the project is constructed/tested; Importantly, this phase also allows children to reflect and solve problems as they arise and amend/rethink their end product as a result
- an evaluation phase where the project is evaluated and compared to the pupil’s initial plan as well as others’ work.
Plans and self-evaluations are recorded in the pupil’s topic book along with any photographic evidence that may have been collected. Completed projects may be displayed and/or taken home at the end of the DT week.
Design Technology Whole School Overview