Design & Technology
Intent
At Churchdown Village Infant School, we believe that Design and Technology encourages children to ‘learn to think’, and to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a community team. Our DT curriculum celebrates these opportunities, whilst providing progressive and practical skills for children to build upon, focussing on textiles, food and nutrition, structures and mechanisms.
Our goal is to inspire all children to design and create! Design and Technology is an opportunity to use creativity and imagination, to design and make products within a real-life context, including using resources within our forest school and playground. We draw inspiration from many sources across our curriculum including, knowledge of historic engineers, designers and chefs, and through the real-life structures we see around us.
We are proud that this starts in our pre-school, whereby children are given opportunities to create using junk modelling and explore structures through exploratory building. Through progressive project blocks, children in Year 2 transition from Churchdown village infant school able to apply designs, think about purpose, draw on opinions and build moving structures, including a fairground wheel!
Design and Technology in the Early Years
In Reception, children focus on exploration of materials, experimenting with design and texture. We focus on developing fine motor skills so that children can use different tools and techniques safely. At Churchdown Infant School, children are given opportunities to do this through continuous provision. Here you will find children exploring form through junk modelling and developing knowledge of structure using our large building blocks. We understand the joy designing and making can bring and are proud to celebrate our children’s creations.
Design and Technology in Key Stage 1
In Key stage 1, children develop their knowledge and skills across the four key areas for design and technology: design, make, evaluate, and technical knowledge. Lessons build on their experiences in EYFS, introducing new techniques and knowledge, such as exploring how their designs can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.
The National Curriculum
Our DT curriculum is crafted using the National Curriculum. We have chosen to use Kapow to support us in ensuring the curriculum is carefully mapped so that it is progressive and children build upon their learning. Kapow unit guides support teaching with core knowledge, disciplinary knowledge, and vocabulary, supporting our learners to design, make and evaluate. We use this support, alongside the knowledge of our children at Churchdown Village Infant School, to provide a DT curriculum just right for us.
Click here to explore how Kapow supports our learning.
Supporting your child at home
Supporting your child at home
- Build something using architecture as an inspiration
- Use old clothes to tie dye, or embellish t-shirts with
- Learn to bake or cook simple meals with limited ingredients
- Design and make a den within the house using boxes, sheets and towels. Evaluate it and make it stronger!