Intent 

The intent of our DT curriculum is to develop a deep knowledge and understanding of the design process, skills and the work of past and present design and technology. Varied and frequent opportunities will enable pupils to evaluate, solve real problems and explore processes practically. Pupils confidently manipulate this knowledge and make links with other areas of the curriculum. They will flourish as creative and curious designers, showing a keen sense of wonder and enriching their understanding of the world.

Implementation

In Design and Technology, we use the Kapow unit. We have created our own two year cycle to ensure progression within our mixed age classes

The Design and Technology National Curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design.

● Make

● Evaluate

● Technical knowledge

Cooking and nutrition is given a particular focus in the National Curriculum, therefore, it is one of our six key areas that pupils revisit throughout their time in primary school:

● Cooking and nutrition

● Mechanisms/ Mechanical systems

● Structures

● Textiles

● Electrical systems (KS2 only)

● Digital world (KS2 only)

DT teaching is taught on a fortnightly cycle in tandem with Art. Units of lessons are sequential, allowing children to build their skills and knowledge, applying them to a range of outcomes. The formal elements, a key part of the National Curriculum, are also woven throughout units. Key skills are revisited again and again with increasing complexity in a spiral curriculum model. This allows pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including practical hands-on, computer-based and inventive tasks. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required. Knowledge organisers for each unit support pupils in building a foundation of factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective and robust Design and Technology curriculum. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD.

Inclusivity

• Valuing every child as a unique individual, teaching and learning will be adapted to ensure equitable provision, representing all protective characteristics.

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

• Within our Design and Technology curriculum we explore and make connections with a balance of spiritual, moral, social, and cultural aspects in order to prepare our children for life in modern Britain and our diverse world.

Curriculum Content

Progression of Knowledge

We have created comprehensive documents which include our whole school curriculum progression for Design and Technology. 

For copyright reasons, this document is not published on our website, but is available on request.

Subject gallery

Pupil Voice 

I really enjoy designing and drawing my ideas. I also like putting materials together, including food technology. I like using design booklets. Design Technology is important in specific careers such as mechanics, architecture and becoming a chef. I think it's a fun way to learn.

I enjoy the different processes in design technology - you can apply lots of different skills to the one product. The part of the process that I enjoy most is evaluating the finished product and changing and adapting things as I complete the process. 

Useful documents and websites