Design & Technology

Intent

At The Willows Catholic Primary School, we aim to develop confident, creative and practical designers who can solve problems and create purposeful products.

Our Design and Technology curriculum enables pupils to design, make and evaluate products for real users and purposes. Pupils develop practical knowledge alongside an understanding of how products work, how they are constructed and how they can be improved.

We want pupils to become increasingly confident in generating ideas, selecting appropriate materials and tools, making accurate products and evaluating their work against clear design criteria.

Our curriculum develops knowledge progressively through structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food technology. Pupils revisit these areas with increasing technical challenge as they move through school.

Food technology is an important part of the curriculum. Pupils learn about nutrition, where food comes from, hygiene and safe food preparation while progressively developing practical cooking skills. This develops from exploring and preparing fruit in the younger years to considering seasonality, food miles, healthy choices, Fair Trade and creating their own recipes in Key Stage 2.

Implementation

Design and Technology is taught through a carefully sequenced curriculum from the Early Years to Year 6.

In the Early Years, children explore materials, joining techniques, simple mechanisms, structures and food preparation through practical investigation and play. These experiences provide foundations for more formal designing and making in Key Stage 1.

As pupils progress through school, they encounter increasingly demanding technical knowledge. In mechanisms, for example, learning develops from simple sliders and levers to axles, pneumatics and more complex mechanisms such as cams, gears and pulleys.

Structures develop from simple constructions to strengthened shell structures and, ultimately, framed and collapsible structures. Pupils learn to consider stability, strength, joining methods and the needs of the intended user.

Textiles develop from simple running stitch and templates to seam allowances, different stitches, joining fabrics and decorative techniques.

Pupils are taught to investigate existing products, generate and refine ideas, create prototypes where appropriate and make products using increasingly accurate techniques. They then test and evaluate their finished work against its original purpose and design criteria.

Practical skills are taught explicitly. Pupils learn to select and use tools, equipment and materials safely and with increasing accuracy and independence.

Where appropriate, DT makes purposeful links with other curriculum subjects, such as Science, Geography and Mathematics, while maintaining its own distinct body of knowledge and design process.

Teaching is adapted so that all pupils, including those with SEND, can participate successfully while maintaining ambitious expectations.

Impact

The impact of our Design and Technology curriculum is seen in pupils' increasing ability to think and work as designers.

As pupils progress through school, they should become increasingly confident in identifying a problem or design need, developing ideas and making informed decisions about materials, components, tools and techniques.

They should be able to apply growing technical knowledge to explain how products work and use this knowledge when designing and making their own products.

Pupils should demonstrate increasing accuracy and independence when cutting, joining, shaping, constructing, sewing, preparing food and assembling mechanical or electrical components.

They should also become more thoughtful evaluators. Pupils should be able to test products, compare outcomes with their original design criteria and identify how a product could be improved.

Teachers and subject leaders evaluate pupils' learning through discussion, practical work, design processes and completed products. The subject leader monitors progression across year groups and considers whether pupils are successfully building upon previous technical knowledge and skills.

By the end of Year 6, our aim is for pupils to leave The Willows as confident and resourceful designers who can combine creativity, technical knowledge and practical skills to design and make purposeful products.

• Design Technology Curriculum Overview download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineDesign Technology Curriculum Overview