Intent 

At Hartsfield, we aim to inspire children to be innovative and creative thinkers who have an appreciation for the product design cycle through ideation, creation and evaluation. We want to provide children with a real life context for learning and prepare them to deal with an ever-changing technological world, encouraging them to become creative and resourceful problem solvers, working both independently and as members of a team.

We will allow children to broaden their knowledge of the subject by giving them opportunities to research different inventors allowing them to appreciate the importance of the subject in our world. In our lessons, we will follow the design, make and evaluate process in the following areas: cooking and nutrition, mechanical systems, textiles, electrical systems and structures. The design process will allow children to take risks, as it will be an opportunity for children to explore their ideas. The make process will allow children to be practical to develop their skills. The evaluation process will give children opportunities to reflect and self-criticise. Design Technology at Hartsfield will allow children freedom to explore and create but also allow children to go on a journey and instil the resilience that is needed to get to our end product.

Design Technology is a fully inclusive subject and reasonable adjustments will be made to support our SEN and PPG children, through additional support and resources.

Implementation 

The Design Technology teaching throughout Hartsfield follows the National Curriculum design, make and evaluate cycle with a focus on technical knowledge and cooking and nutrition. We use a scheme called Kapow which has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these five strands (See separate document). At Hartsfield, Design Technology is to be taught in all year groups through at least one topic per term, which includes one topic relating to food and the other two topics occurring on a two yearly cycle.

The Kapow scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing all pupils to revisit and build on previous learning. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks to paired and group work including practical hands on inventive tasks. The variety in the scheme means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils are also available.