Designs on primary schools

What did the school want to achieve?

School improvement

The school believes in enthusing pupils through real learning, making connections with the world outside school and providing memorable experiences. It is also interested in developing pupils’ creativity across the curriculum. It hoped that a visit to the Design Museum, which combines a stimulating environment with a strong emphasis on creative learning, would help them to achieve both of these things. By increasing the pupils’ motivation and enjoyment of learning, it hoped to see an improvement in their attainment across the curriculum.

The school also wanted to broaden pupils’ experiences by giving them an opportunity to visit a museum and travel into the centre of London. It hoped that involving as many parents as possible in the trip would help to develop home-school partnerships.

Pupils’ design and technology education

By working with the Design Museum, the school hoped to broaden the pupils’ experience of designing and making, giving them an opportunity to encounter products and designs outside their everyday lives.

In particular, the school’s objectives for design and technology were to develop the pupils’:

• understanding of the design processes (developing, planning and communicating ideas)
• ability to use the language of design
• understanding of how everyday objects have developed
• skills in evaluating processes and products.

The teacher involved in the project (who is the school’s design and technology coordinator) hoped to learn new skills and knowledge that she could use to improve the teaching of design and technology throughout the school.