The Southfield Designer

CURRICULUM STATEMENT Our Design and Technology curriculum seeks to provide children with the opportunity to use their creativity and imagination to create and construct products linked to real life contexts. Children take part in practical, creative and motivating projects that link to other areas of the curriculum but with DT principles at the heart.

Children have the opportunity to experience practically so as to: • Investigate famous designers and ideas to solve practical design problems • Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world • Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users • Critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others • Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook Through sequenced ideas and skills children will experience and develop the six key essentials skills of Design and Technology as they work through the exciting and innovative projects.

Children will learn about famous designers who have influenced the world of technology and design. They will learn the disciplinary skills of what it is to be a Southfield Designer.

CURRICULUM COVERAGE Year Group

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Reception

People and Communities

The World

Technology

Children learn about the environment and community they live in through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people and places,

to make sense of their physical world through opportunities to exploring and observation

Children will “recognise that a range of

Year 1

Mechanisms Sliders and Leavers

Structures Freestanding structures

Food and Nutrition Preparing fruit and vegetables (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS1)

Year 2

Mechanisms Wheels and axles

Food and Nutrition Preparing fruit and vegetables (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS1)

Textiles Templates and joining techniques

Year 3

Structures Shell structures

Food Healthy and varied diet (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS2)

Textiles 2D shape to 3D product

Year 4

Mechanical Systems Levers and Linkages

Electrical Systems Simple circuits and switches

Food Healthy and varied diet (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS2)

Year 5

Structures Frame Structures

Food Celebrating culture and seasonality (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS2)

Electrical Systems More complex switches

Year 6

Textiles Combining different fabric shapes

Mechanical Systems Pulleys or Gears

Food Celebrating culture and seasonality (including cooking and nutrition requirements for KS2)

technology is used in places such as homes and schools [and] select and use technology for particular purposes”.

WHAT DOES DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY LOOK LIKE AT SOUTHFIELD? At the heart of our Design and Technology curriculum is the expectation that children will develop disciplinary skills and knowledge to become designers. At the end of each unit or study will produce a practical product. They will investigate designs, solve design problems and issues, build and create and evaluate exploring issues contextually. The Southfield Designer will incorporate the following elements in all lessons: • Investigative and Evaluative Activities (IEAs) where children learn from a range of existing products and find out about D&T in the wider world; • Focused Tasks (FTs) where they are taught specific technical knowledge, designing skills and making skills; • Design, Make and Evaluate Assignment (DMEA) where children create functional products with users and purposes in mind.

Children will start each lesson with a story to place learning in context and to be meaningful. They will learn about well known designers or inventors and how they created tangible items from imagination and design.

Children will design, make and evaluate products using a range of materials and components; this includes construction materials, textiles, food mechanical components and in Key Stage 2 they will use electrical components.

The curriculum is sequenced so that each project begins by recapping what the children have already learnt and then there is a summary of the key learning within designing making, evaluating and technical knowledge and understanding for the project the children will take part in so they have an overall picture of what the project involves. Children will be encouraged and immersed in the vocabulary and language of Design and Technology.

The curriculum is based on the six essentials of core good practice in Design and Technology: User – children have a clear idea of who they are designing and making products for, considering their needs, wants, interests or preferences.

Purpose – children know what the products they design and make are used for. Each product is a clearly defined task that can be evaluated in use.

Functionality – children design and make products that function in some way to be successful. Products often combine aesthetic qualities with functional characteristics.

In D&T, it is insufficient for children to design and make products which are purely aesthetic. .

Design Decisions – when designing and making, children have opportunities to make informed decisions such as selecting materials, components and techniques and deciding what form the products will take, how they will work, what task they will perform and who they are for.

Innovation – when designing and making, children have some scope to be original with their thinking. Projects encourage innovation that lead to a range of design ideas and products being developed, characterised by engaging, open-ended starting points for children's learning.

Authenticity – children design and make products that are believable, real and meaningful to themselves i.e. not replicas or reproductions or models which do not provide opportunities for children to make design decisions with clear users and purposes in mind.

Cooking and Nutrition is also covered in our curriculum, as part of Food Technology children will learn about nutrition and health eating. Children will learn how to prepare dishes with fresh fruit and vegetables without using a heat source at KS1 and in KS2 children will prepare and cook dishes using a wider range of ingredients, using a heat source where appropriate.

HOW OUR 4 CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES ARE REALISED AT SOUTHFIELD Story Centred Children begin each project with a story linked to a themed week, product or a designer or a problem that needs designers to solve closely linked to the purpose of the project.

A picture or an actual product may be starting point of the project; this would be put into context and used to tell a story.

Units are linked to other curriculum areas of study SciencePlants, Materials of matter, History- Romans and Egyptians.

Knowledge Rich Children are immersed in the language and knowledge of design and construction over the range of Design and Technology areas: Textiles, Food and Nutrition and Mechanics. Using knowledge of designers and technological concepts, they weave in areas from other curriculum subjects.

The structure of the planning allows progression in Design and Technology and encourages children to:

Develop, plan and communicate ideas In this area, pupils generate, develop and explain ideas for a product by collecting and using information from a number of sources, including ICT, advertisements and concrete materials (such as similar products) to draw inspiration from. They are given the opportunity to disassemble and investigate everyday objects in order to ascertain how they work. Pupils then use this knowledge to create their own unique selling point for their product, finding ways to add a unique element to an otherwise well known item.

Work with tools, equipment, materials and components to make quality products Pupils learn about the different tools and techniques that can be used when making their product. They evaluate them in order to select the appropriate tools needed for creating their product. They measure, mark, cut out and shape a range of materials and then assemble, join and combine these components with accuracy.

Evaluate Process and Products After inventing their own versions of products, the pupils reflect on their progress by identifying ways that they could improve and enhance their items. Where applicable, they also test their effectiveness to offer alternative production solutions to tackle issues that have come to light after product creation.

HOW OUR 4 CURRICULUM PRINCIPLES ARE REALISED AT SOUTHFIELD Contextualised: Design and Technology is weaved into our curriculum themed weeks. For example, the children complete the ‘food and nutrition’ element of this curriculum in our ‘Healthy Lifestyles Week’. They may then make a garment during History week or design a pulling and pushing mechanism in Science Week.

Our curriculum allows children to become problem solvers and think of creative ways to overcome issues whilst designing a product. The children are further challenged by having to create these products contextually, e.g. designing a shoe for a Roman soldier.

Personal Growth: Our T.R.U.E values are embedded in the activities the children complete. The children have to trust one another, respect opinions and work together in order to get the best outcome possible.

In this subject, pupils are given the opportunity to take ownership of a project - from the designing of it, to the making of it and then evaluating it. Their ideas come to life through their creativity and self expression. Our school motto ‘Ex Corde Vita’ (out of the heart springs life), is never more evident then when these products come to fruition and we can see all of the care and effort that ahs gone into the making of these products.

A culmination of not only their knowledge and skills, but their care and effort, develop the Southfield Designer, with children using the skills and knowledge accumulated to produce projects at home.

Each Year group showcases their products at the end of the unit for the rest of the school and the parental community, further instilling their confidence in themselves and their ideas.

ASSESSMENT AND PROGRESSION Children are assessed throughout the project using a number of Rosenshine’s principles including: • Talk tasks • Group presentations • Questioning by the adult and other groups • Discussions of techniques and skills children have used • Quizzes • Design and Technology Exhibition showcasing all the work children have produced • Group and individual evaluations- children evaluate how well their product works in relation to the purpose and user • Once the project is complete the teacher will assess the children against the objectives for the project and identify children who need support and challenge in the next project.

‘Ex Corde Vita’

Email: admin@southfield.ealing.sch.uk Southfield Primary School Southfield Road Bedford Park London W4 1BD Tel 020 8994 6173