Design & Technology

Design and Technology gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of designing and making functional products. We feel it is vital to nurture creativity and innovation through design and by exploring the designed and made world in which we all live and work.

At The Bewbush Academy, we believe that Design and Technology education involves two important elements - learning about the designed and made world and how things work, and learning to design and make functional products for particular purposes and users.

 

Through our D&T curriculum, our pupils acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of materials and components, mechanisms and control systems, structures, existing products, quality and health and safety.

 

The skills learned in D&T also help with learning across the curriculum. Knowledge about the properties of materials helps in science and the practice of measuring accurately helps in maths. These skills help in computing through the children’s use of computer control and, naturally, in art and design.

 

Design and Technology education helps develop children’s skills through collaborative working and problem-solving, and knowledge in design, materials, structures, mechanisms and electrical control. Our pupils are encouraged to be creative and innovative, and are actively encouraged to think about important issues such as sustainability and enterprise.

 

There are three core activities children engage with in Design and Technology at The Bewbush Academy:

 

  • Activities which involve investigating and evaluating existing products

  • Focused tasks in which children develop particular aspects of knowledge and skills

  • Designing and making activities in which children design and make 'something' for 'somebody' for 'some purpose'

 

These three activities are combined in sequence to create a Design and Technology project.

 

The importance of subject vocabulary

At the beginning of each unit, our teachers identify ‘Star Words’ to supplement the core skills identified at the planning stage. This is of course not an exhaustive list and teachers may want to add to it as the unit unfolds whilst maintaining a consideration for cognitive load. An important aspect of both continuity and progression is to ensure that time is devoted to thinking about what ‘Star Words’ the pupils have already mastered and how this can be built upon and extended during their time at The Bewbush Academy.