Design and Technology

Intent

Through our teaching of Design and Technology we aim for children to learn and develop a range of practical knowledge and skills which they can use in their life outside of school, as well as being transferable across a number of subjects.

 Our teaching of Design and Technology helps children learn to be innovative, creative and capable as they develop the skills they need for daily life, as well as becoming the engineers, designers and makers of the future. Children are given opportunities to design, make and evaluate a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food products with a real life purpose.

 As part of the Design and Technology curriculum we give our pupils the opportunity to cook a variety of dishes, following a progression of skills from Nursery through to Year 6. We want to inspire and motivate a love of food and cooking alongside the teaching of basic cooking skills in order to help our children develop this crucial life skill. We recognise that it is particularly important to teach our pupils the principles of a healthy and varied diet so that they can feed themselves affordably and well in the future. We want children to understand where food comes from and how a variety of everyday foods are made.

 The progression of knowledge and skills which we want children to have at the end of each key stage follows the Design and Technology Programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2 as detailed in the National Curriculum 2014. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239041/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Design_and_technology.pdf

 Curriculum coverage of the various aspects of DT is ensured by following the long term plan. The Long Term Plan for our school can be found in the current academic year’s Design and Technology folder. This plan is designed to be used alongside the DT Association ‘Projects on a Page’ resources. Within each key stage, there is flexibility for the topics to be taught in a different order but the main aspects should be covered over a 2 year cycle to ensure curriculum coverage. The ‘Project on a Page’ for each of the topics can be found in the folder for each key stage along with further resources.