Design & Technology

At Streatham Wells we believe that Design and Technology is an important part of children’s education and that it makes a valuable contribution to our children becoming successful, confident learners and responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Pupils learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world. High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Aims and Objectives

The aims of Design and Technology are:

to develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world;

to 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;

encourage and guide children in thinking critically about both existing products and their own work, in order to form their own opinions, and evaluations, and to learn from others’ work and their own successes and failures.

Expose children to key designers and design case studies, in order to understand the role and impact of design and technology on the world in which we live, and to consider the future learning and career opportunities within these fields.

to understand and apply the principles of nutrition and to learn how to cook.

Agreed Approaches

The school uses a variety of teaching and learning styles in Design and Technology lessons. The principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in Design and Technology. Teachers ensure that the children apply their knowledge and understanding when developing ideas, planning and making products and then evaluating them.Teachers use the progression documents to plan ensuring knowledge and skills are built over time. Within lessons, we give children the opportunity both to work on their own and to collaborate with others, listening to other children’s ideas and treating these with respect. Children critically evaluate existing products, their own work and that of others. They have the opportunity to use a wide range of materials and resources, including ICT.

Inclusion

Design and Technology forms part of the school curriculum policy to provide a broad and balanced education to all of our children. We aim to reflect the cultural diversity of our school community and the interests of the children themselves through the choice of design and make assignments. In all classes there are children of differing ability. We recognise this fact and provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child.

We achieve this through a range of strategies:

setting common tasks that are open-ended and can have a variety of results;

using additional adults to support the work of individual children or small groups.

We aim to ensure that all children can achieve their potential in Design and Technology and that the work of all children is equally valued.