Being engineers and designers at St Mary's
Design technology is primarily taught through our enquiry-led curriculum under the umbrella of being and engineer and designer. It is also enriched through outdoor learning (being a steward) and through Thrive activities. This allows our children to connect to the D&T national curriculum through practical, meaningful and beneficial learning experiences.
In doing this children achieve practical life skills that are of benefit to the rest of their school life and beyond.
Throughout enquiries, children become engineers and within this, they have opportunities to design, make and evaluate different products.
This process enables children to:
- Explore a product and know what it is for and why something is made.
- Develop a creative outlook on our increasingly technological world and having the expertise, confidence and practical skills to participate effectively within it.
- Learn, explore and use the skills needed to make their chosen product.
- Investigate what to use and how this solves a "design and make" problem
- Evaluate past and present products so that they understand how something they and others have made impacts on their daily lives.
This meaningful approach to design technology enables children to recognise a purpose for their learning and have opportunities to apply their knowledge of the core and other wider curriculum subjects within the design and make process.
They will gain and progress within skills such as cutting, joining, shaping and finishing using different materials such as paper, textiles, wood and food.
Within food technology we particularly want children to:
- Know the key principles of nutrition and learn and apply valuable cooking skills.
Being an artist at St Mary's
“All children are artists” – Pablo Picasso
At St Mary’s, we want the children to enjoy a broad and balanced curriculum. As part of this, we recognise the need for all children to express themselves creatively, in writing, through music, dance and drama, and through the medium of art.
We hope to engage, inspire and challenge our pupils to experiment, inventing and creating their own works of art, craft and design, and using a wide variety of techniques and media. We want to develop independent, creative thinkers, ready to embrace the diverse challenges of the modern world.
We want the children to have confidence in their own abilities as an artist and view their own art work and that of others critically, in order to refine their techniques and appreciation of art and design.
We introduce the children to the work of a wide range of prominent artists throughout history, from early cave painters to contemporary artists. We show how design reflects and helps to shape the culture around it, both in this country and in other parts of the world. We show them how artistic styles have changed over time and we try to interpret some of the styles and techniques used in our own work.
The school's Lead Artist or Art Subject Leader is Carla Guttilla
