Design Technology throughout the school follows the requirements of the National Curriculum 2014. For more information about our curriculum, you can speak to your child's teacher, a senior leader, or our curriculum leader (Mrs Becky Hibbitt).

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils are taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in the process of designing and making. Wherever possible, they work in a range of contexts, such as home and school, gardens and playgrounds, the local community and the wider environment.

Key Stage 1

Children at KS1 are given the following opportunities:

• Design: designing purposeful, functional appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria. They generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology.
• Make: selecting from and using a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks such as cutting, shaping, joining and finishing. They select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.
• Evaluate: exploring and evaluating a range of existing products, and evaluating their ideas and products against design criteria.
• Technical Knowledge: building structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable. They explore and use mechanisms, such as levers sliders, wheel and axles, in their products.
• Cooking and Nutrition: using the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes, and understanding where food comes from.

They learn the following practical skills:

• Food:

  • Cut, peel or grate ingredients safely and hygienically.

  • Measure or weigh using measuring cups or electronic scales.

  • Assemble or cook ingredients.

• Materials:

  • Cut material safely using tools provided.

  • Measure and mark out to the nearest cm.

  • Demonstrate cutting and shaping techniques, tearing, cutting, folding and curling.

  • Demonstrate a range of joining techniques such as gluing, hinges or combining materials to strengthen.

• Textiles:

  • Shape textiles using templates.

  • Join textiles using running stitch.

  • Colour and decorate textiles using a number of techniques such as dyeing, adding sequins or painting.

• Electronics:

  • Diagnose faults in battery operated devices.

• Construction:
  • Use materials to practise drilling, screwing, gluing and nailing materials to make and strengthen products.
• Mechanics:
  • Create products using levers, wheels and winding mechanisms.
• Computing:
  • Model designs using software.

KS1 children also learn...

• To design, make evaluate and improve:
  • Design products that have a clear purpose and an intended user.
  • Make products, refining the design as work progresses.
  • Use software to design.
• To take inspiration from design throughout history:
  • Explore objects and designs to identify likes and dislikes of the designs.
  • Suggest improvements to existing designs.
  • Explore how products have been created.

Key Stage 2

Children at KS2 are given the following opportunities:

• Design: using research and developing design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups. They generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.
• Make: selecting from and using a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks, such as cutting, shaping, joining and finishing, accurately. They select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional and aesthetic qualities.
• Evaluate: investigating and analysing a range of existing products. They evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work. They understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped to shape the world.
• Technical Knowledge: applying their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures. They understand and use mechanical systems in their products, such as gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages. They understand and use electrical systems in their products, such as series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors. They apply their understanding of computing to programme, monitor and control their products.
• Cooking and Nutrition: understanding and applying the principles of a healthy and varied diet. They prepare and cook savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques. They understand seasonality and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

In lower KS2 (Years 3 and 4), they learn the following practical skills:

• Food:

  • Prepare ingredients hygienically using appropriate utensils.

  • Measure ingredients to the nearest gram accurately.

  • Follow a recipe.

  • Assemble or cook ingredients, controlling the temperature of the oven or the hob.

• Materials:

  • Cut materials accurately and safely by selecting appropriate tools.

  • Measure and mark out to the nearest millimetre.

  • Apply appropriate cutting and shaping techniques that include cuts within the perimeter of the material.

  • Select appropriate joining techniques.

• Textiles:

  • Understand the need for seam allowance.

  • Join textiles with appropriate stitching.

  • Select the most appropriate techniques to decorate textiles.

• Electronics:

  • Create series and parallel circuits.

• Construction:

  • Choose suitable techniques to construct products.

  • Strengthen materials using suitable techniques.

• Mechanics:
  • Use scientific knowledge of the transference of forces to choose appropriate mechanisms for a product such as levers, winding mechanisms, pulleys and gears.
• Computing:
  • Control and monitor models using software designed for this purpose.

Lower KS2 children also learn...

• To design, make evaluate and improve:

  • Design with purpose by identifying opportunities to design.

  • Make products by working efficiently.

  • Refine work and techniques as work progresses, continually evaluating the product design.

  • Use software to design and represent product designs

• To take inspiration from design throughout history:

  • Identify some of the great designers in all of the areas of study to generate ideas for designs.

  • Improve upon existing designs, giving reasons for choices.

  • Disassemble products to understand how they work.

In upper KS2 (Years 3 and 4), they learn the following practical skills:

• Food:

  • Understand the importance of correct storage and handling of ingredients, using knowledge of micro-organisms.

  • Measure accurately and calculate ratios of ingredients to scale up or down from a recipe.

  • Demonstrate baking and cooking techniques.

  • Create and refine recipes, including ingredients, methods, cooking times and temperatures.

• Materials:

  • Cut materials with precision and refine the finish with appropriate tools, e.g. sanding.

  • Show an understanding of the qualities of materials to choose appropriate tools and shape.

• Textiles:

  • Create objects that need seam allowance, e.g. a cushion.

  • Join textiles with a combination of stitching techniques.

  • Use the qualities of materials to create a suitable visual and tactile effects in the decoration of textiles, such as soft decoration for comfort on a cushion.

• Electronics:

  • Create circuits using electronic kits that employ a number of components.

• Construction:

  • Develop a range of practical skills to create products such as cutting, drilling, screwing, nailing, gluing, filing and sanding.

• Mechanics:

  • Convert rotary motion to linear using cams.

  • Use innovative combinations of electronics and mechanics in product designs.

• Computing:
  • Write code to control and monitor models or products.

Upper KS2 children also learn...

• To design, make evaluate and improve:

  • Design with the user in mind, motivated by the service a product will offer.

  • Make products through stages of prototypes, making continual refinements.

  • Ensure products have a high quality finish, using art skills where appropriate.

  • Use prototypes, cross sectional diagrams and computer aided designs to represent designs.

• To take inspiration from design throughout history:

  • Combine elements of design from a range of inspirational designers through history, giving reasons for choices.

  • Create innovative designs that improve upon existing products.

  • Evaluate the design of products so as to suggest improvements to the user experience.