At Downe, we place great importance on children’s understanding of art. Children learn about its place in history, about how it features in our and other people’s cultures and they learn how to produce artwork using different skills and media.

Lessons are structured around the children’s half-termly IPC topic and reflect and build upon what they are learning in their other lessons. Children create individually, in partners and collaboratively and they sculpt, collage, draw – using a wide range of media – or paint with poster paints, watercolours, acrylics, and fabric paints!

Children at Downe have great enthusiasm during art lessons, this is evident in the fantastic artwork that they produce, much of which goes on display in school.

Design & Technology

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in design and technology, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Design and technology is taught as part of either a half termly or termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum.

At Downe all year groups participate in at least three DT projects per year. Part of the DT process is to plan in detail, create and then carefully evaluate. Children are taught these valuable skills from Year 1 onwards.

The structure is as follows:

• DT is taught either in blocked weekly sessions or in a condensed two or three day time frame where appropriate
• Each term children will experience an evaluation task, preferably of an existing product or process, a series of focused practical tasks which will develop the skills necessary for the children to carry out the D&M task (Designing and Making). This might be looking at actual existing products or researching products via computer search engines.
• The emphasis in Reception is for children to be encouraged to examine and talk about everyday objects and give possible reasons for why things are made the way they are.
• They will also be given opportunities to handle and use a wide range of materials, developing their knowledge and understanding of these through practical design and make activities.
  There will be more teacher direction within design and technology activities within the reception class but this support will decrease as children move through key stages 1 and 2.
• During their experience of DT the children are introduced to a variety of contexts including; home, recreation, industrial and community.
• Opportunities are provided for each child to experience construction/model making, graphic media (ICT), textiles and food technology.
• Opportunities will be made each year to celebrate achievement in DT as a whole school community, either through DT assemblies, DT displays and presentations or whole school DT curriculum days.