Intent

At Butler’s Hill we aim to nurture creativity and innovation

through design by inspiring children through a broad range of practical experiences which solve real and relevant problems within a variety of different contexts. This process encourages children to critically evaluate existing products and then take risks when designing and creating solutions to the problems. As part of the process, time is built in to reflect, evaluate and improve on prototypes using design criteria throughout to support this process.

Implementation

At Butler’s Hill our Design and Technology curriculum is taught using inspiring sequences of learning. Our curriculum encourages the children to design purposeful, functional and appealing products based on design criteria. The concepts we follow to achieve this are; user, innovation, implementation and evaluation. We also explicitly teach the importance of safety throughout school. All concepts are revisited each year using a sequence of learning that are progressive and builds upon prior learning which will help children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills, knowledge and challenge. Through these lessons, we intend to inspire pupils and practitioners to develop a love of Design and Technology and see how it has helped shaped the ever-evolving technological world they live in.

Impact

At Butler’s Hill we implement a curriculum that is progressive in skills throughout the school. In Key Stage One, a unit of D&T or art will be taught alternately each half term, focusing on the knowledge and skills set out in the National Curriculum. The aim of our D&T lessons will be that children will be taught the required skills of design and making that they can use to progress in both their D&T lessons and their every day life. In early years children are provided with various opportunities to develop their fine motor skills to help them progress through school. Children are given the opportunities to evaluate and edit their work, teaching them that it takes time and change before a final product can be created. We believe the impact of the D&T curriculum is that children will build on this wealth of skills and understanding, now and in the future.

In Year 2 the children were given the task of designing and making a cookie and packaging for a family from a different country somewhere in the world. This linked with everything we had learnt about the continents and where food comes from. We had to sample different fillings that were already on the market to decide what filling would be best for our chosen family in our chosen country. Some were a clear favourite like chocolate (from Costa Rica) ,but turkey delight did not go down so well! other than with Miss Tutty!!

Magic Beans for Jack!

 The children learn how to sew at Butler's Hill. We make a bag for Jack's magic beans to go in on his way back from selling the cow to the mysterious man on the way to the market! the children plan, design and make a bag that is an appropriate size, shape and material to keep the magic beans safe inside.