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Design and Technology

Design and Technology at Race Leys

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Reception

In Reception, DT is covered through the Early Learning Goals called ‘Technology’, ‘Exploring and Using Materials and Media’ and ‘Being Imaginative’.

In Reception children are provided with opportunities to solve problems, explore products, experiment, design, make and evaluate in a variety of contexts. Children are offered opportunities to to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through design and technology.

DT learning in Reception

Our creative and topic based curriculum helps children meet learning opportunities within an engaging and interesting environment through practical activity, enquiry and purposeful play, with consolidation through practice, talk and reflection. For example, during the Polar lands topic children experiment with joining materials together to create a product. In reception children safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. Children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools.  They select and use technology for particular purposes. Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about users and purposes, in order to create their own products.

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Key Stage One

In Key Stage One, DT is covered through the DT National Curriculum.  It aims to ensure all children: 

  • 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

Key Stage One

In Key Stage One children are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in the process of designing and making. At Race Leys, when designing and making, our children learn how to:

Design

  • design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria

  • generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology

Make

  • select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks

  • select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics

Evaluate

  • explore and evaluate a range of existing products

  • evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria technical knowledge

  • build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable

  • explore and use mechanisms in their products.

Cooking and Nutrition

  • use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes

  • understand where food comes from

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DT learning in Key Stage One

In Key Stage One children are encouraged to make links with other subjects, with science and maths for example.  They learn how to measure, mark out and cut materials using maths measuring skills.  Children recently used these skills alongside DT skills to create a wheeled vehicle.

In Key Stage One DT is taught through topics allowing for lots of cross curricular learning, for example in the ‘Rainforest’ topic children learn how free standing structures can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable when creating a 3D rainforest scene which also makes use of their art skills.

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