Design and Technology is a subject that often finds itself being taught in all kinds of lessons at all different times of the year.
It is first and foremost a subject where children can learn and apply real-world skills that aren’t just relevant in their lessons, but can be applied in every-day situations. From being in nursery, children learn age appropriate skills that they build upon throughout their time at Burnopfield Primary, and carry with them for the rest of their lives. From the safe and effective use of woodwork tools and the healthy and hygienic preparation of food, to the ability to plan a project or activity and then critically evaluate it afterwards, the children are given the opportunity to develop abilities early on and then continue to use and improve them as they move up the school.
But DT isn’t just a subject that stands on its own. It is a subject that is used to enhance other learning, giving lessons a tangibility that might have otherwise been left up to the imagination.
In Key Stage 1 children are tasked with building castles, complete with working drawbridges, and making crane toys that not only look the part, but are fully functional. In Lower Key Stage 2 there is, among other things, a Viking fashion show where the children have to tailor their own costumes, a project where they must build and evaluate an ancient Egyptian pyramid, and opportunities to cook local delicacies as well as French pastries.
In Upper Key Stage 2 the children will explore ancient Greece by rebuilding the Parthenon and celebrate the manic beauty of the Las Vegas strip by engineering their own light show, and not forgetting their deep-dive into Tudor England where they will cook authentic food and produce timely textiles.
And that’s not to mention in nursery and reception where technology is constantly used as way of teaching the children and allowing them to develop their basic skills as well as their imaginations.
Throughout their time at Burnopfield, the children learn to be adventurous in their thinking, they are inspired by the experiences they take part in and they people they meet and research, but they are also encouraged to aspire to the most dizzying of heights. DT allows them to explore the world we live in and how it works but, more importantly, it gives the children the skills they will need in order to shape it into what they’d like it to be.
You can see some fantastic examples of the DT work that takes place across the school at our Twitter page #dtburnopfield.
