Design Technology

"Design is intelligence made visible".

                                                                            Alina Wheeler

Our Curriculum intent

Our Design and Technology Curriculum at Compass Point ensures that our pupils will:

• Have a Design and Technology education that is relevant to our rapidly changing world.  
• Become problem solvers who can work creatively. 
• Be inspired to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding. 
• Have opportunities to research, generate ideas and represent them in a number of ways
• Use the design process to explore and investigate, develop their ideas, make products and evaluate their effectiveness. 

The aim of Design Technology at Compass Point is that our students will gain an understanding of:

• The design process - What is the purpose of my product? What are the best materials I can use? How can I improve my product? Why is design important? How can my product be sustainable? Can I help to solve the issues facing the world at the moment?

• The safe use of tools - How can I keep myself and others safe? What tool is best? What should I do if I am concerned about using the tools?
• A wealth of designers who have created useful and iconic products- Who are the most influential designers? What makes a good designer? What attributes do I need? - What skills are important for design? Why are some designers more famous than others? Should beauty or practicality matter most?
• The importance of Design and Technology in the real world - How has design shaped my world? Why is design technology so important? What products are still being designed? Should we redesign things?

Implementation

Design and Technology is a crucial part of life and learning and it is for this reason that as a school we are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum.

This is implemented through:

• A well thought out, whole school, yearly overview of the DT curriculum which allows for progression across year groups in all areas of DT (textiles, mechanisms, structures, food and electrical systems)
• Well planned and resourced projects providing children with a hands-on and enriching experience
• A range of skills being taught ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken
• We often teach DT as a block of lessons to allow the time needed for the children to be critical, inventive and reflective on their work. In addition smaller projects are undertaken through our whole school topics
• As a school, we promote Design and Technology in the wider school through an after school cooking club and a weekly gardening/green team session, In addition we also have a hydroponic growing station in school and grow our own plants and vegetables
• Each project from Year 1 to Year 6 addresses the principles of designing, making, and evaluating and incorporating relevant technical knowledge and understanding in different contexts.
• Pupils being introduced to specific designers, chefs, nutritionists, etc. helping them to gain an appreciation of human creativity and achievement

Our children like to design and make different things, whether that is a planned part of the curriculum or as part of our weekly whole school plan- do - review sessions. We encourage them to be purposeful in their designs and support them to improve their skills in using different materials and tools. We want our children to know about good design, to understand the design process and also to have knowledge of artists and designers.

We want our children to understand that design is a creative problem solving process and that design can be used to help us in everyday life. It is through good responsible design that society is finding solutions to many of the world's problems; we want our children to be the designers of the future.

Impact

Our Design and Technology curriculum enables and encourages our children to become critical thinkers. They look at existing designs to analyse and assess their effectiveness and then they consider ways of redesigning and reconstructing them to improve their overall success. Through Design Technology our children learn to take risks, become resourceful, innovative and enterprising individuals. Children learn to be passionate and excited by the designing and making of products including working with, preparing and tasting food. Learning is assessed through the analysis of the pupil’s ability to evaluate, design, make and improve their own work.