Design Technology
“I have filled him with spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with ability and all craftsmanship, to devise all artistic designs and to work in all designs.” Exodus 31 : 2-14Click here to read about our curriculum offer and download our progression maps
Why Design Technology?
At Clifton upon Dunsmore Primary School, we are passionate about giving children opportunities for creativity through practical tasks. DT includes all children, especially those who need support in academic work. DT provides a chance to develop life skills.
DT is achieved through some topic work or as a stand-alone subject. Sometimes Home Learning, especially through the Lockdowns, has given families an opportunity to work together and have fun building things, inside and outside, e.g. bird boxes, feeders, mini greenhouses and hand and string puppets. This type of projects aid mental health too, which is an area of life that we have all been made more aware of recently - a vital part to living well!
Cooking/food technology is part of the DT curriculum and we are fortunate enough to have a kitchen that the children enjoy working in. There is a structured Cooking Guide for each Year Group, which shows progression, but some classes will cook different recipes from time to time if inspiration takes their fancy!
Children have their own DT jotters in which they can sketch and annotate ideas. Then they work with different types of materials to make an object, making use of a variety of skills along their DT journey, e.g measuring, cutting, assembling, painting, etc. Questioning forms a large part to the processes. All of these skills involve problem-solving and children may work independently or collaboratively.
Along the DT journey, children learn about classic and contemporary designers and engineers and are inspired by their work. We have visitors in share their work, e.g we hired a Claybot machine that made clay pots from a computer programme. We have a structured list of DT trips for each Year Group ready to go when a suitable time allows.
Sometimes we have Pop-Up DT Exhibitions where we showcase our work because we are proud of our achievements.