Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you look deeper, it's really how it works.

Steve Jobs

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, children are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in the process of designing and making a product. Children will follow the iterative design process of researching, designing, making and evaluating. Using this process will enable children to really understand the processes and think clearly about their design when striving to meet a design brief.

Children learn to take risks and how to become reflective, resilient learners whilst learning how Design Technology impacts everyday life and the wider world. We aim to, wherever possible, link our design work to other curriculum areas such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art. Children are given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and effectiveness, as well as conduction research to support product designs – with the consumer in mind. We encourage children to work collaboratively with others. Collaborative work in Design and Technology develops mutual respect for the differing opinions, abilities and beliefs of others. It also helps children to respect their environment and the health and safety of themselves and others. They learn to appreciate that their ideas and opinions may differ to others and also learn to show tolerance.

Our Design and Technology curriculum instils an attitude in children to never give up. Often life throws things at us and we need to find a way to bounce back. That is why our school focus for children is to be resilient. Children will need to show patience and resilience in the design process.

Aims:

• 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