Kaizen Primary School

Intent 

Children attending Kaizen Primary School often have very few experiences of life outside of their local area due to being located in an area of high deprivation meaning that families are not able to visit areas outside of the local area and high mobility rates (23% for 2021-22, nearly ¼ of our whole school cohort were new last year). Our Kaizen Design Technology curriculum is designed with the intent of addressing the contextual issues that impact on pupils through our five values: Commitment, confidence, creativeness, care and collaboration. Design and Technology at Kaizen develops children’s skills and knowledge in a number of different areas. These include: structures, mechanisms, electrical systems, textiles and food. We inspire children's creativity and encourage them to think about important issues in the world around them. We aim to show the significance of learning DT through showing the career opportunities available as part of our ‘Future Me’ initiative. 

The Design and Technology curriculum ensures that by the time the children leave in Year 6, they will have: 

• Developed the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently. Children achieve this by applying the knowledge they have been taught in the sequence of lessons before creating their final outcome. This can be demonstrated when children create slippers in Year 6 as they have to apply their knowledge of joining different textiles effectively by using different stitches. This is a progression of knowledge they have accumulated from making puppets in Year 2 and pencil cases in Year 4. 
• Developed the expertise to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world by creating various outcomes that use technology. Examples of this include the use of electrical circuits when making torches in Year 4 and Ferris Wheels in Year 6. 
• Built and applied a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users. This is achieved in all year groups as the sequence of lessons planned follow the make, design and evaluate phases. 
• Critiqued, evaluated and tested their ideas and products and the work of others. This happens at the end of each topic as children are taught to evaluate their final outcomes. They share what went well and generate ideas about how they could have made their products better. 
• Understood and applied the principles of nutrition and learned how to cook. Children are given various opportunities to experiment with food, from exploring familiar foods and learning how to use utensils safely in EYFS to baking bread by the end of Upper Key Stage 2

Vocabulary development is a key aspect of our whole school curriculum as a result of the high proportion of children who start Kaizen Primary School with lower levels of vocabulary than is typical for their age. 

Vocabulary is taught explicitly to support the development of key concepts. When learning about mechanisms children need to know the name of different terms, this includes levers, sliders, pivots, linkage and slots. When participating in textile lessons, children need to learn the names of different stitches. In the structure topic, the key vocabulary includes; framework, weak, strong, base, top, underneath, side, edge, surface, thinner, thicker, frame structure, stiffen, strengthen, reinforce, triangulation, stability, shape, join, temporary, and permanent.

The DT curriculum starts when the children begin their learning journey in the Early Years. Therefore we allow children to explore DT themes and content through the ‘Expressive arts and design’ strand of the EYFS curriculum. Children are able to experiment with recyclable materials. They are given the opportunity to participate in simple cutting, shaping and joining using scissors, glue, paper fasteners and masking tape. 

Implementation 

At Kaizen, Design Technology is taught in all year groups, with meaningful and well resourced lessons. Children are taught through the three phases of designing, making and evaluating as set out by the National Curriculum. At Kaizen we have also implemented another phase which we call ‘practise’. This phase allows children to explore existing products and create mockups and prototypes before designing their final product. Where appropriate, cross curricular links are made to allow children to make links within the world they live in. 

Each year group focuses on at least 3 topics throughout the year and children will use transferable skills and knowledge from previous learning where relevant. As children progress through the school, they are presented with opportunities to develop these skills, as similar topics are revisited and built upon. We have a Kaizen curriculum for Design Technology which aligns with the national curriculum. All staff have participated in training on delivering the curriculum and further Design Technology professional development is always on offer for staff should they feel more support is needed. Our school works in collaboration with 5 other trust schools; here the curriculum leaders meet and discuss aspects of the curriculum, sharing good practice and ideas for purposeful teaching and learning. 

At Kaizen we split the terms between D&T and Art outcomes, with subjects alternating each half term. The time dedicated to D&T ensures that each topic can be delivered to a high standard and children can create important and useful products. Children are encouraged to be clever and creative when designing and making their products. All children are challenged during D&T lessons through continuous verbal feedback and through problems presented to them. Children are constantly encouraged to evaluate their work and designs in order for them to justify their choices. 

During D&T lessons, cross-curricular links are observed when appropriate. The school utilises our forest school provision to enrich children’s understanding of the world. Maths links are made where possible, for example in Year 3 children have an opportunity to work with shapes and nets to design packages. During cooking topics, children are measuring out ingredients, as well as calculating the quantities of different recipes. Instructions are often created as part of the ‘design’ phase, which has a direct link to English. Through the children presenting their products confidently oracy skills are practiced. Science knowledge is practiced when children are creating products that contain electrical components, for example Year 4 children use their knowledge of electrical circuits to create nightlights/torches. Adults also encourage children to consider the impact their product can have on the wider world, to ensure they realise the difference they may make in the future. This is achieved via the use of recyclable materials to create different products. 

At Kaizen, we believe that all learners should primarily access the first quality teaching and be immersed in class discussions during DT lessons. Therefore, SEND learners access the same learning as all other children but will be given further support, adapted outcomes and a tailored approach to suit each individual’s needs. Strategies used to support our SEND learners include: 

• A pre-teach of topic specific vocabulary 
• Reading support when researching using a range of sources 
• Printouts of work/presentations to scaffold with independent tasks 
• Instructions broken down into manageable chunks and more time given to process the information

Children with high levels of need have a broad curriculum offer, linking into National Curriculum themes, but with scaffolded learning which meets their needs, ensuring they are also making good progress from their initial starting points. The themes are planned to ensure that DT skills and knowledge to be embedded and built upon. 

We understand that children have missed opportunities of learning because of the COVID outbreak and the resulting distance and blended learning models that were used in the previous school years. Our current teaching model ensures that any missed opportunities are addressed before teaching new concepts and topics. This pre teaching approach ensures that children are able to access the new learning and build upon their knowledge and skills.

Impact 

Each topic ends with all children creating a final product; these products are a fantastic way for children to demonstrate the skills they have learnt. Throughout the school, children are given the opportunity to consolidate their skills by creating their final product independently. Each lesson builds on the previous and children’s skills are improved upon throughout each topic. It is also clear to see the progression of skills throughout the school through the quality of products each year group creates. Curriculum and school leaders monitor the impact of our curriculum provision through completing regular monitoring, that includes listening to the voice of our children. End outcomes ensure that children have the opportunity to apply the different components that have been taught to a composite piece of learning. 

The impact of our DT curriculum at Kaizen ensures that children are equipped with skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready to continue their learning journey in KS3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. Children will be clear about the careers available to them as part of our ‘Future Me’ aspect of the curriculum and continue to explore opportunities available to them.

D&T Future Me: