‘Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future.‘
Robert L. Peters
This term, we have launched a brand new and exciting subject into our curriculum…Design & Technology! DT is a practical subject that is focussed on problem solving and developing creative and critical thinking. It also feeds into our big drive in STEM.
Every DT topic will involve research and evaluating existing products, as well as designing, planning, making and evaluating a new product, based upon a given Design Brief. It will be a creative, engaging and cross-curricular journey for the children, which will develop and enhance their ability to use many of our Character Values, including: Creativity, Teamwork, Enthusiasm, Common Sense and Adaptability. DT will provide our children with the fundamental skills that are vital in later life, especially the Resilience and Ambition to try again, if at first they don’t succeed!
Each term, we will be introducing a new and exciting aspect of DT across the whole school, as part of our ever-growing curriculum, including Food Technology, Textiles and Mechanical Systems.
This term, our focus has been Food Technology. We have discussed the importance of healthy eating and maintaining a balanced diet; hygiene and risks when preparing food and skills that we will be using throughout.
Each Year group has been given a Design Brief, conducted market research on items already available (including taste-testing) and are now in the process of designing their own product, using Computer Aided Design (CAD). We have had excellent feedback on our DT journey so far from both staff and pupils and we look forward to seeing more of this enthusiasm as our DT skills evolve.
We know that exposing our children to DT will allow them to experience and understand the world in a more meaningful way. This subject will increase our pupils’ opportunities and open them up to a breadth of knowledge from a STEM perspective – showing them that the possibilities for their futures are endless; we may have many Engineers, Designers, Architects, Chefs and Food Scientists in the making!
Make sure you ask your son/daughter what they have been investigating in DT this term so far (and read the Year 1 article too!).
