Vision for Saltburn children

At Saltburn primary school, our Design Technology curriculum will provide our children with wide-ranging experiences, allowing us to nurture and grow their creativity and equip them with relevant skills for life in our rapidly changing world. We aim to create challenging opportunities for children to research, explore and investigate, develop their ideas, practise a wide range of skills, make products and evaluate their work, from designing, testing and making to basic sewing stitches, measuring and simple wood work techniques to cooking skills. We want our children to be inspired by a range of professionals including engineers, designers, architects and chefs and have high aspirations for their futures.

Our Saltburn area is unique, rooted in Victorian heritage and along with the surrounding areas, is rich in feats of architectural engineering and creativity. With this in mind, adapted it to meet the needs of our children to ensure that it is relevant, engaging, challenging and accessible for every child in Saltburn Primary School.

Aims

Through robust teaching practices, we aim to develop core areas for our children as they engage in the study of Design Technology with enthusiasm and passion:

Creativity Children will design and make their own products using creative, technical and practical skills to solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts and developing self-confidence and belief in their own ideas and finished products.	Critical Thinking Children will critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others, adapting their designs to create a product they are happy with and that meets the objectives set and developing resilience, problem-solving skills and the ability to work individually and collaboratively as a group, along the way.
Knowledge and Skills – Technology Every child will build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and transferrable skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users.	Knowledge and Skills – Cooking and Nutrition Children will foster a love of cooking in order to understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to prepare, produce and cook a range basic dishes– a crucial life skill.
Cross curricular links Children will understand links with other curriculum areas and be able to apply the skills they learn in other subjects in Design Technology and vice versa.

Local context

Saltburn is a small seaside town nestled within the North Yorkshire moors and the Cleveland Hills rich in mining opportunities. The surrounding area of Teesside is heavily industrialised with its roots in the past linked to mining, ship building and the chemical industry. In recent years it has seen growing investment in high technology industries such as car making (Nissan in Sunderland) and Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe (high speed trains).

We can see the impact of Design Technology everywhere we look and we are very fortunate in Saltburn to have some amazing feats of engineering right on our doorstep and within walking distance of our school. For example, Saltburn pier, the cliff hoist and Tees Transporter bridge

From the most complex structures to the humble surf board and can opener, everything we use begins as a creative spark, is designed, tested fit for purpose, analysed and often re-designed before it is turned into a successful product. Through our Design Technology curriculum and the vast array of opportunities in Saltburn and the surrounding area, we hope to inspire our children to aim high and achieve their full potential.

How will we enrich cultural capital?

We recognise that, while all children equally deserve the very best start in life, not all children receive the same opportunities as their peers around the country. Levels of disadvantage fluctuate from one school or class to another, and these differences can affect a child’s life chances in so many ways. We believe that it is our duty to enrich the lives of all children wherever possible to diminish this difference.

In the study of Design Technology, our local area provides many opportunities for children to experience and witness evidence of key feats of engineering, creative design and culinary experiences:

Look at/visit local structures including bridges built for different purposes
Visit or invite in staff from Choccolini’s – independent chocolate making shop to talk about the chocolate making process and running a business.
Invite visitors from universities and industry to share their knowledge and set design challenges.
Use links within the Academy Trust to share knowledge and ideas.
Borrow resources and use online resources from museums and libraries – compare old and new technology and designs.
School trips/visit Saltburn structures of interest, research and create own versions with links to other subjects e.g. funicular lift (science). Invite in local experts on structures to share knowledge.
Invite in/visit local chefs or businesses such as Quorn and Coco-Loco to work with classes and develop understanding of different types of food including other cultures and create dishes.
Invite Andy Marsden to help children prepare dishes in school.
Dragon’s Den scenario; set tasks to allow children to design, create and make products to set criteria.
Invite in local trades people to talk about their jobs and skills e.g. log carving in Pinchinthorpe woods, Earthstore Boutique in Saltburn to talk about fairtrade clothing and items.
Organise visits to supermarkets to look at, taste and talk about foods, labelling, carbon footprints etc. and link to geography and science (Tesco, Morrisons etc)

Progression from EYFS

The EYFS framework is structured very differently to the national curriculum as it is organised across seven areas of learning rather than subject areas. The aim of this document is to help subject leaders to understand how the skills taught across EYFS feed into national curriculum subjects.

Early learning goals that link to design technology:

EYFS – Expressive arts and design

ELG Creating with materials

● Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

● Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.

● Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

EYFS – Physical development

● ELG Fine motor – to use a range of small tools, including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery.

Children in foundation stage have daily opportunities to make their own creations using a wide range of different materials, fixings and tools which are freely available in continuous provision. They are taught how to use tools such as scissors, hole punch, string, sellotape, cutters etc. They are encouraged to talk about what they would like to make, how they will do it and what they think about it when it is finished. In addition to this, they are encouraged to evaluate what they have made and make changes as appropriate. We also hold several parent events where family members are invited in to partake in workshops and work alongside their children.