DT Curriculum at Mengham Junior School
Design is at the heart of everything around us. In DT at Mengham Junior School, we aim to inspire pupils to become more independent in the process of planning, making and evaluating products alongside giving them the necessary skills to design and make them. These opportunities are designed to lead into a love of making that they will be able to use in the future.
The technology that is everywhere is something that children naturally find fascinating and, as a result, careful planning of stimulating learning experiences at Mengham in DT, allow easy access to this interesting area. An iterative process of designing and making is used. The children design, make and evaluate their products. Then, where possible, parts of the process are repeated to allow the children to improve when they have had a chance to practise. Our DT curriculum is designed to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge in exciting and relevant units: they make strong, stiff structures; they cook then eat and evaluate the results; they work with textiles; they make mechanical systems using levers and cams to create movement; they use simple electrical circuits and components to create a variety of products; and develop their programming skills to control them. Taking part in our annual DT challenge day is an opportunity to work in house teams and is always a highly anticipated event in the school calendar. This is where the children can show their mastery by independently applying the skills they have learnt.
The iterative process of designing and making enables children to be successful learners, by developing their ability to reflect. Learning about eating a nutritionally balanced diet helps children to be healthy. Understanding where food comes from, how food is seasonal and the benefits of using locally resourced produce helps children be responsible members of our community. DT encourages independence and interdependence, supporting pupils in taking initiatives and building their confidence in doing so. Learning computational thinking in DT, such as logic, patterns, tinkering, debugging, amongst others, are thinking skills that children apply across the curriculum and to life generally.
Curriculum Map – DT
Skills Progression in DT