Design and Technology at Downfield
At Downfield, we aim to ensure that children are given the opportunity to practice essential skills by designing, making and evaluating through purposeful activities linked to cross-curricular topics. Children develop technical knowledge and an understanding of cooking and nutrition through a progressive curriculum. Children learn explicit Design and Technology vocabulary to ensure they can explain their learning and the outcomes. Our teaching focuses on developing specific skills, ensuring children consider health, and safety.
Across the key stages, use electronics, (e.g. computer aided programs) to support designing and making. As children get older, they develop confidence in using tools, materials and build on technical knowledge linking to their class topics.
We recognise that in all classes, children have a wide range of abilities and we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways:
- setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses
- setting tasks of increasing difficulty
- providing resources of different complexity, depending on the ability of the children
Year 2 - Can I build a castle for Pre School to play with?
Year 3- Can I design, make and evaluate my own smoothies?
Year 3- Can I design, make and evaluate a toy poisonous dart?
Year 4- Can I prepare and cook a variety of savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques?
Year 6- Can I design, make and evaluate a Tudor Rose cross stitch?
Pupil Voice
What skills did you use? What technical knowledge did you need?
- "Measuring wood so it fitted together and how to use the glue gun to hold the frame together"
- "How to use a saw so it didn't get stuck"
- "We were better at using the saw because we had used them in year 4"
- "Cross stitching"
What vocabulary did you use?
- "Binca"
- "Needles"
- "Thread"
- "Glue gun"
- "Vice"
- "Saw"
- "Joined"
