2024-2025

Vision and Intent

At Solent Infant School, we believe that Design and Technology (D&T) is an exciting, inspiring and practical subject that brings learning to life. We aim to stimulate children’s interest into the increasingly creative and technological world we live in. We want to support learners to take risks and become imaginative and resourceful individuals, who can problem solve and work collaboratively. Our bespoke D&T curriculum offers memorable experiences across all elements of D&T, including structures, mechanisms, textiles and food and nutrition. We intend for all children to acquire appropriate subject vocabulary, knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum. At Solent Infant School, want D&T to prepare our children, to give them the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences they need to be successful in later life.

Implementation

Children begin to explore products in the world around them and question how and why things work through play exploration, investigations and practical experiences in Year R. This allows children to develop a range of fundamental skills and underpinning knowledge that scaffolds their D&T journey throughout Key stage 1 and Key stage 2.

Our progressive KS1 D&T curriculum has been designed so each year group teaches four units a year, and each unit links to the year groups curriculum theme for the half term. This immerses children in the learning and supports them to make connections between different subjects. In each unit of learning children will review previously learnt skills and knowledge through retrieval to build upon and make links with new knowledge and skills. The units are driven by a carefully planned purpose, user and product (PUP) to ensure children experience a range of contexts and consider a variety of users’ needs and wants. The sequence of learning begins with a hook of mystery clues linked to the unit. This generates curiosity and allows children time to ask questions and share their prior knowledge and understanding. Children then explore and investigate a range of existing products, their functions, purposes and users ready to use their new understanding to create a design criteria. This enables our children to creatively design and make their product, using a range of tools and materials they have chosen. Throughout the sequence of learning, children are encouraged to reflect and think critically to develop, adapt and improve their products to meet the design criteria and PUP. In addition, children will also consider the health and safety risks related to the making the product and how they can overcome them. Across the curriculum, the children are introduced to a range of influential designers, inventors and chefs to understand how D&T can be within the real world. Teachers ensure learning is inclusive by variating lessons and providing a range of scaffolds where needed to ensure all learners can access the learning and have the appropriate level of challenge.

The D&T curriculum is enriched through new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) opportunities including after school clubs and focused school weeks.

Impact

We ensure through the D&T curriculum; children have the opportunity to be successful and thrive. It is important to us, that the impact of D&T learning is seen across our whole school curriculum and wider community. We embed this learning through our whole school values. Children are enthusiastic, have high aspirations and take pride in their learning and develop independence. The children’s D&T experiences also help shape them into innovative thinkers by building a foundation of skills and knowledge that will stay with them for a lifetime. Teachers use formative assessment strategies throughout the unit to address misconceptions and adapt the needs of all learners and promote further learning. Pupil voice is valued and used within the classroom at the point of learning but also to further develop the curriculum by ensuring that the children views, opinions and experiences shape their D&T learning journeys. Inspiring our pupils to become the next generation of designers, engineers, architects and chefs and to begin understanding how D&T skills and knowledge can be used in their future lives!