Teaching Design and Technology at Templars Primary School
At Templars’ Primary School, our children learn how to be designers through our custom-made curriculum. It has been created so that our children can use transferrable skills such as: mathematical problem solving, technological skills, scientific enquiry and drawing and crafting skills to become a great designer. Through our DT curriculum our children will learn how to take risks, become resourceful, and be innovative and imaginative. By using these skills, our children will leave Templars with a breadth of knowledge and real-life skills, which will continue to support them for their future in education and beyond.
Design and Technology is important to our children’s curriculum because it allows them to explore our ever-changing world and to think about important issues that are current and relevant to them. Through the subject of DT our children can use their creativity and imagination to design purposeful products and solve real problems, therefore giving them the opportunity to experience a snippet of the wider world and their potential careers as future designers.
A sense of belonging is enthused throughout the curriculum as children are engrossed in a wide range projects such as: jewellery making, moving picture books, sewing slippers and choosing from a range of ingredients to cook a healthy meal. By the end of year 6 Templars’ children will feel like they belong to the design and technology community because they will have been equipped with the skills required to be a successful designer and the inspiration to develop these skills in the future.
They will also learn about key individuals who have made a significant impact on the technological and engineering world, individuals such as: James Starley – inventor of the penny farthing, Ada Lovelace – creator of the first computer algorithm and Alexander Graham Bell – inventor of the telephone. These individuals have been chosen to inspire and excite our children into believing that their ideas could become life changing to our world in the future. Each significant individual has a thematic link to our specially chosen topics which underpin our children’s learning, as they journey through Templars.
We actively promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education and understanding of our children as well as promote British values, throughout our DT curriculum. Thinking and problem solving lies within the heart of spiritual thinking and builds on our children’s self-beliefs that they can be successful. During the planning and making process of DT, our children are encouraged to consider ethical and moral dilemmas which are raised. For example, having the opportunity to choose materials that are environmentally friendly. There are many opportunities to promote social responsibilities as often projects involve working collaboratively in groups or pairs, which requires social interaction and at times, compromise to make decisions together. Peer evaluation and to act as a critical friend to give supportive comments is also an important factor to DT which helps our children’s learning outcomes to improve. We also explore cultural awareness by investigating existing ideas or artefacts from the past from different periods of time.
British values underpin how we teach design and technology because our children learn to understand the value of compromise and have the right to make their own choice when designing and making their product. They need to understand the rules of safety when using tools such as: hammers, saws, sewing needles and cooking equipment. Our children learn to accept that others ideas may not be the same as theirs and must show mutual respect to each other when having discussions to resolve disagreements or making decisions.
As our children move through our school, their knowledge of specific vocabulary will grow. They begin in year 1 to learn the basic skills such as: cutting, sticking, shaping and moulding. Whilst understanding subject specific language such as: product, axles, and wheels that will be introduced and revised throughout their time at Templars so that they can remember key vocabulary and learn more. Their progression of skills and knowledge can be seen by the time they reach year 6, as they will have been taught about different types of mechanisms, CAD, nutritional specific vocabulary such as antioxidants and processed foods.
Our DT curriculum has been created to give our children a wide range of experiences and opportunity. Each year group is given the chance to use skills and equipment such as: bow saws, loppers, hammers and nails with support in forest school. Forest school experiences demonstrate that learning can happen everywhere, and our children thrive through learning in this environment.
As teachers at Templars, we foresee that our children will leave us with a breadth of knowledge and skills which will prepare and excite them for a potential future in the design and technological world.
Kayleigh Gray (Design and Technology Co-ordinator)