The Christian faith is at the heart of our school community.

At Christ Church we all care, learn and work together for God and others. 

‘For we are all God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’. Ephesians 2:10 

Our Christian Values are

Creation, Community, Wisdom, Endurance, Thankfulness, Reconciliation

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Intent

At Christ Church, we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art.

Our Design and Technology scheme of work aims to inspire children through a broad range of practical experiences to create innovative designs. This iterative process encourages children to identify real and relevant problems, critically evaluate existing products and then take risks and innovate when designing and creating solutions to the problems.

Opportunities are provided for our children to evaluate key events and individuals who have helped impact on the world, show casing the knowledge and skills of design and technology on the wider environment and helping to inspire children to become the next generation of innovators.

The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators and risk-takers.

Our DT scheme of work provides a platform for children of all backgrounds and abilities to engage and thrive in an imaginative and holistic curriculum. We have a high number of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and we have prioritised trips, visits, talks and opportunities to enable all of our children to succeed and blossom.

Implementation

We ensure the arts are deeply embedded into our school life and are proud to have achieved the following:

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, based on the Kapow scheme of work, we teach the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. The children design and create products that consider function and purpose and which are relevant to a range of audience.

When designing and making, the children are taught to:

Design:
• use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.

Make:
• select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing, as well as chopping and slicing) accurately.
• select from and use a wider range of materials, ingredients and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties, aesthetic qualities and, where appropriate, taste.

Evaluate:
• investigate and analyse a range of existing products.
• evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
• understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Technical knowledge:
• apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
• understand and use mechanical systems in their products.
• understand and use electrical systems in their products.
• apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products
• Understand some of the ways that food can be processed and the effect of different cooking practices (including baking and grilling).

Key skills and key knowledge for D and T have been mapped across the school to ensure progression between year groups. The context for the children’s work in Design and Technology is also well considered and children learn about real life structures and the purpose of specific examples, as well as developing their skills throughout the programme of study. Design and technology lessons are also taught as a full day per half term so children can understand the technical knowledge and key skills needed to successfully design, make and evaluate efficiently.

We have purposely and strategically looked at each year group’s long term map and have created a DT scheme of work, using Kapow as a basis, that allows each year group to meet the NC end of year points. We have chosen topics that encourage cross curricular links and allow room for lots of scope and imagination. It gives children the opportunity to build and develop their knowledge and as they progress through the school. We want to equip them to leave with problem solving and reasoning skills that they can take into the real world.

We suggest a specific series of lessons for each key stage, which offer structure and narrative but are by no means to be used exclusively, rather to support planning. The revision and introduction of key vocabulary is built into each lesson. This vocabulary is then included in display materials and additional resources to ensure that children are allowed opportunities to repeat and revise this knowledge. Adult guides and accurate design and technology subject knowledge are always provided within lessons to allow the teacher and adults working in those lessons to feel confident and supported with the skills and knowledge that they are teaching.

Through these lessons, we intend to inspire pupils and practitioners to develop a love of Design and Technology and see how it has helped shaped the ever-evolving technological world they live in.

Impact

We use DT to collaborate as a whole school and community, we are excited to continue enhancing pupil’s creativity, enjoyment and attainment through a meaningful curriculum. We ensure DT has a dedicated time in our curriculum which we successfully entwine with other subjects to create meaningful and enjoyable cross curricular links. We have refined our DT Scheme of Work which has led to high quality teaching and provision of DT across the school. Enriching DT experiences both in and outside of the classroom have been intertwined with literacy and topic focuses to ensure they are meaningful in the curriculum as well as providing pupils with fantastic opportunities. By striving to embed the DT into our school life we have increased involvement in the DT from external and internal visits, workshops and experiences. We have built partnerships, raised academic attainment, increased the number of competitions, increased pupil engagement, developed children’s oracy skills, problem solving and reasoning skills.

The impact of using the full range of resources, including display materials, will be seen across the school with an increase in the profile of Design and Technology. The learning environment across the school will be more consistent with design and technology technical vocabulary displayed, spoken and used by all learners. Whole-school and parental engagement will be improved through the use of design and technology-specific home learning tasks and opportunities suggested in lessons and overviews for wider learning. We want to ensure that Design and Technology is loved by teachers and pupils across school, therefore encouraging them to want to continue building on this wealth of skills and understanding, now and in the future. Impact can also be measured through key questioning skills built into lessons, child-led assessment such as success criteria grids, jigsaw targets and KWL grids and summative assessments aimed at targeting next steps in learning.