Moor Allerton Hall Primary School

MAHPs DT Intent

Creativity and Imagination

At Moor Allerton Hall we believe that Design and Technology is about providing opportunity for children to use creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems, considering their own and other’s needs. Making mistakes and re-doing is a huge part of Design and Technology and integral to learning. We therefore provide a range of wider experiences to make learning both memorable and exciting whilst nurturing our children’s creativity.

Skills and Knowledge

As children progress, they learn to be able to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of Design and Technology. They build on their existing knowledge and apply it in real life contexts, relating it to the world around them and appreciating the work that goes into creating brilliant products. Through engaging lessons, visits/visitors and workshops with outside agencies particularly Allerton Grange High School, we seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people, which will remain with them for the rest of their lives, equipping them well for further education and beyond.

Cross Curricular

The Design and Technology curriculum at Moor Allerton Hall enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to other curriculum areas, and which can and are used to promote their learning muscles, love of learning and cultural development. Through the study of Design and Technology, children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industry.  We aim to, wherever possible, link work to other disciplines such as Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art. The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and are encouraged to become innovators, problem solvers and risk takers.

Implementing DT at MAHPs

Professional Development of Teachers

Design and Technology at Moor Allerton Hall is taught at the end of each term and is consistently interconnected with other subjects throughout the year, so that children can achieve depth in their learning. Teachers have identified the key knowledge and skills of each blocked topic, and these are mapped across the school, ensuring that knowledge builds progressively and that children develop skills systematically.

Subject coordinators and teacher's knowledge is developed through Design and Technology specialised courses whereby learning is feedback and implemented across school. We also involve the use of outside visitors and speakers who are experts in particular fields. For example, using the Design and Technology materials and experts at Allerton Grange High School.

Planning and Teaching DT

Measuring Progress in DT

Within Design and Technology, we strive to prepare children to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world. We aim to encourage children to become creative problem-solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. Through the study of Design and Technology, children combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as of functions and industrial practices. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impact. Our Design and Technology curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge and skills and discreet vocabulary progression also form part of the units of work. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught. High levels of pupil enjoyment and engagement are also monitored to ensure learning is interesting and memorable.
• Tasks are selected and designed to provide appropriate challenge to all learners, in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.
• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
• Moderation staff meetings where pupil’s projects which are written and recorded in books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers to understand their class’s work.
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.
• Marking of project and written work in books.
• A designated display area to celebrate children’s learning done every half term. Each Year group gets a chance to show case their work.

MAHPs DT Curriculum Overview