Design and Technology
Subject Intent
The Design and Technology curriculum at Whitehill Community Academy is delivered through timetabled lessons. When designing the Art and Design curriculum, the full national curriculum for Design and Technology was taken into consideration, ensuring that pupils are exposed to all of the aims and more.
The design curriculum builds and prepares pupils to design, invent and evaluate their own products as well as analysing their plans, thoughts and ideas. Throughout their experience of Design Technology, pupils will have the opportunity to develop their creativity and imagination within a practical workspace.
The pedagogy of the Design Technology curriculum enables pupils to evaluate past and present designers, craftsmen and engineers. Our pupils will develop a critical understanding of Design and Technology and the impact on daily life and the wider world.
The design curriculum will prepare our pupils for life beyond Whitehill Community Academy by not only ensuring that they are able to plan, prepare and evaluate, but also helping them to understand the uses and implications of technical developments in the world.
Pupils will design and make products that will solve real life problems. They will consider others needs and wants when inventing products and learn to collaborate with others to create the most useful prototype, building respectful relationships in the process.
At Whitehill Community Academy we want to fulfil each child’s potential by teaching them how to use their theoretical knowledge to plan, create and test their functional products. This will ensure that the next generation are given the skills to become resourceful, innovative and enterprising designers of their own creations.
Golden threads
To enable our subject leaders to provide a robust approach to the Design and Technology curriculum, knowledge and skills are structured so that each term and year build upon one another. This is done by mapping out the ‘Golden Threads’ of our design and technology curriculum. Through mapping out the ‘Golden Threads’ we can ensure that pupils are given lots of opportunities to perfect their skills, knowledge and understanding.
The Golden Threads of ‘Design and Technology’ are:
- Cooking and Nutrition
- Mechanics
- Textiles
- Structures
