“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, design is knowing which ones to keep.”
-Scott Adams
Intent
In delivering outstanding Design Technology education using the CUSP curriculum approach at Stockbridge Village, the intent is to provide a curriculum that is ambitious, broad, and balanced. The curriculum aims to inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to explore, create, and evaluate products through designing and making.
The intent is to foster children’s creativity, problem-solving skills, and resilience, whilst developing their understanding of materials, mechanisms, and structures. By providing a curriculum that is relevant, engaging, and inclusive, pupils are encouraged to apply their knowledge across different subjects, making connections between design principles and real-world applications.
The intent is to instil a sense of curiosity and a passion for innovation, preparing pupils for future challenges and opportunities in an ever-evolving technological landscape.
Implementation
To ensure the effective implementation of Design Technology using CUSP, teaching approaches should be dynamic, practical, and tailored to meet the needs of all learners. Teachers should carefully sequence learning experiences that progressively build on children’s prior knowledge and skills, fostering a sense of progression and achievement.
Practical hands-on activities should be central to the curriculum, allowing pupils to experiment, design, and make products using a wide range of tools, materials, and techniques. Opportunities for collaboration, reflection, and peer feedback are embedded throughout the learning journey, promoting a culture of shared learning and mutual support.
Assessment is formative and ongoing, with a focus on evaluating the process of design and making as well as the final outcomes.
Impact
The impact of delivering Design Technology using CUSP curriculum at Stockbridge Village should be evidenced through the progress, achievements, and attitudes of pupils towards the subject. Pupils should demonstrate a deep understanding of design principles, processes, and techniques, showcasing their creativity and problem-solving abilities through high-quality products.
Pupils should exhibit confidence in applying their design skills across different contexts, showing resilience and resourcefulness when faced with challenges. The impact should be evident in the way pupils evaluate their own work critically, identifying areas for improvement and demonstrating a growth mindset towards refining their designs.
The wider impact of Design Technology using CUSP should be seen in the positive attitudes and enthusiasm of pupils towards learning, fostering a culture of curiosity, exploration, and innovation.
As designers, children must have a coherent overview of the design process. We teach children to: design, make, evaluate, and apply. To do this we use the CUSP curriculum which ensures that children are equipped with the vocabulary and disciplinary skills to succeed.
The curriculum is organised into blocks, with each block covering a particular set of disciplines. Vertical progression is used so children revisit key disciplines with increasing degrees of challenge and complexity.
Opportunities to develop vocabulary in Design Technology is entrenched within the CUSP curriculum by using use it, know it and own it vocabulary matrixes.
We ensure that all children, including SEND pupils, have full access to Design Technology by carefully planning and creating opportunities for all children to think hard during the design process.
At the end of a block, we assess children on what they know and what they are able to do.
