Prospect Hill Infant And Nursery School

We use the National Curriculum for Design and Technology, following the ‘design (including researching), make, evaluate’ format to ensure that children have opportunities to think about what makes an effective product, develop skills, and think critically about their products.  

Design: Children design products with an intended user in mind for a specific purpose.  They research existing products and evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of them.  The children create their own design criteria informed by their research and think about the materials they will need.  Designs are completed at an age-appropriate level throughout school, including; verbally, making annotated sketches and making prototypes.  Children develop their design skills as they progress through school by re-drafting their designs.  They also develop the ability to work cooperatively as part of a group by creating collaborative designs and by collating ideas from individual designs.

 Make: Children are taught knowledge of D&T, technical language and have opportunities to practise skills (e.g. making levers, cutting, joining etc.) before making their products.  They have access to a wide range of tools and materials.  They have opportunities to make individual products and to work as a group to develop collaborative products.

Evaluate: After completing their product, children evaluate their work.  This is done through discussion in the younger year groups with children developing the ability to evaluate against their original design criteria as they grow older.  They also get opportunities to improve their work after evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their product.

Teachers ensure that D&T is differentiated from art by explaining that D&T is a product that is made for an intended user for a specific reason.  E.g. castles made for year 2 children to present their drama performance,  tiger food designed for the tiger in ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ to eat when he goes to Sophie’s house for a tea party.

Children in each year group undertake at least one project in each of four areas; structures, mechanisms, textiles, cooking and nutrition. 

Design and technology areas (including construction, craft, and critical thinking areas) are available for children to access in both EYFS and KS1.  Children can access challenges in these areas or can work independently or as part of a team.

Work scrutiny, subject monitoring, lesson observations, and pupil interviews are regularly carried out by the subject leader to ensure a high standard of teaching and learning.  Children’s enjoyment of design and technology, vocabulary used, opportunities for challenge, questioning, and the frequency of taught lessons are considered and next steps are identified.

Children are taught about real-life designers and the impact that their products have had on society.

Children are taught about where food comes from and how to have a healthy and varied diet.  This is often taught through cross-curricular work with subjects including science.

Children are taught basic hygiene and safety rules to enable them to prepare dishes using a variety of tools. 

As children progress through school, they have opportunities to follow recipes and instructions to help them to prepare a variety of dishes.

Through participation in educational trips, visitors, and experiences, the children learn about a variety of people and gain first-hand experience solving problems in a range of contexts.

Design and technology lessons regularly involve outdoor learning and embracing natural materials.  Children get opportunities to work with children who they would not usually associate with, improving their communication and teamwork skills.

Children have access to a mud kitchen during forest school.  They have access to a wide range of tools and are encouraged to think creatively.

Children have opportunities to be involved in extra-curricular activities, including cookery club and DT club after school. Children have the opportunity to continue their learning at home by designing and making a product for their ‘creative and critical thinking’ homework project.  This work is then displayed, and parents are invited to view the finished products.

A vocabulary bank of technical language is used by all staff to model the correct vocabulary for each context and to encourage children to discuss their work using technical language. 

Technical language taught each lesson is often written on LO stickers for children to refer to.

During independent learning time, children can access resources and classroom areas that include both creative, open-ended resources and specific challenges.

Children are involved in creating their own success criteria when designing a product, to encourage them to think more carefully about what makes an effective product.

Staff are aware of the emerging, expecting and exceeding skill sets for each year group and use these to assess children’s abilities and to identify their next steps for learning.

The schools ‘creative and critical’ symbols are used in children’s books and the children are given opportunities to explain what the skills represented by each symbol mean.

The school’s ‘Big Brain Bill’ motto is used to promote perseverance and encourage children to keep trying.

Differentiated questioning is used by all staff to encourage children to think creatively and critically about what they are doing.  Children are challenged to use technical vocabulary.

Impact