Christ Church C of E Primary School, Clifton
Design & Technology
Each unit of the DT curriculum comprises of four parts: subject knowledge; design; make and evaluate. We also integrate teaching on Health and Safety so that children are able make their products safely. The subject knowledge is often taught at the beginning of the unit in the classroom, where children can look at examples of DT in every day life and discuss how things are made. For example: In the Year 1 Structures unit, the children discuss the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world’s tallest freestanding structure and the Forth Railway Bridge in Scotland. For the design process, some units have a question for the children to consider. For example: In the Year 4 Structures unit, the question is, “How do shell structures contain, protect and present?” so children evaluate existing products and use ideas to help them design their own.
At Christ Church we have a specialist practical room, which is where the making process often happens. The children sit on tall seats around long work benches so they have plenty of space to be creative. Resources such as glue guns, saws etc. are also to hand. The practical room can also be used for Cookery: the portable hobs and sinks allow for whole classes to be “hands on” and the children enjoy working together in this way.
Evaluation of products is an important part of the DT curriculum and this is where children are posed questions such as: “How does your product meet its purpose?” or “What would you do differently next time?”
Food and Nutrition
Cookery is an integral part of the DT curriculum at Christ Church and the children love learning about food, where it comes from and the importance of a balanced diet. Alongside their subject knowledge, they have opportunities to develop their skills in mixing, weighing, chopping, grating, to name a few. Sometimes we invite companies in to help us with our Cookery units. Year 3, for example, invited Warburtons to visit and make bread with the children. We also like to go out and learn: Reception children visited Pizza Express and came back to school with delicious pizzas.
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