Design & Technology
Our Design and Technology curriculum at St Andrews Southgate Primary School is designed to ignite a passion for innovation and creativity in our pupils. We believe in nurturing inventive and thoughtful thinkers who understand the product design process. Our goal is to empower pupils to confidently explore new ideas as they develop and refine their design concepts through drafting, modelling, and testing. We encourage reflective learning, where pupils critically assess their own work and learn from the achievements of others. Through our curriculum, we strive to cultivate an understanding of how design and technology shape our world, equipping our pupils with the skills to become resourceful and entrepreneurial citizens who can contribute to future advancements in design.
Intent
The Design and technology National curriculum outlines the three main stages of the design process: design, make and evaluate. Each stage of the design process is underpinned by technical knowledge which encompasses the contextual, historical, and technical understanding required for each strand. Cooking and nutrition has a separate section, with a focus on specific principles, skills and techniques in food, including where food comes from, diet and seasonality.
Implementation
The National curriculum organises the Design and technology attainment targets under four subheadings: Design, Make, Evaluate, and Technical knowledge. We have taken these subheadings to be our curriculum strands:
- Design
- Make
- Evaluate
- Technical knowledge
Cooking and nutrition is given a particular focus in the National curriculum and we have made this one of our six key areas that pupils revisit throughout their time in primary school:
- Cooking and nutrition (at least once a year)
- Mechanisms/ Mechanical systems
- Structures
- Textiles
Our Design and technology scheme has a clear progression of skills and knowledge within these strands and key areas across each year group. Our curriculum overview shows which of our units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the four strands.
The progression of skills shows the skills and knowledge that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of each key stage.
Through our scheme, pupils respond to design briefs and scenarios that require consideration of the needs of others, developing their skills in the six key areas. Each of our key areas follows the design process (design, make and evaluate) and has a particular theme and focus from the technical knowledge or cooking and nutrition section of the curriculum.
The scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key areas revisited again and again with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revisit 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.
At St Andrew's, Design and Technology is timetabled once a term, complemented by an additional unit of Cooking and Nutrition each year. This sequence is carefully selected to ensure the progression of skills and comprehensive coverage of the national curriculum objectives. Our units are ordered carefully to build upon each other, enhancing knowledge over time, with cross curricular links. We place a strong emphasis on the design process, ensuring it is well understood and followed through engaging, hands-on projects. Additional extra-curricular opportunities to enhance and extend the skills of design and technology are sought throughout the year by engaging with community projects.
Impact
This scheme ensures clear progression of knowledge and skills between all units as well as supports teacher development within the subject. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and knowledge catcher which can be used at the start and/ or end of the unit for assessment.
Pupils will leave St Andrew’s equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be innovative and resourceful members of society.
The expected impact of following this Design and Technology scheme of work is that children will:
- Understand the functional and aesthetic properties of a range of materials and resources.
- Understand how to use and combine tools to carry out different processes for shaping, decorating, and manufacturing products.
- Build and apply a repertoire of skills, knowledge and understanding to produce high quality, innovative outcomes, including models, prototypes, CAD, and products to fulfil the needs of users, clients, and scenarios.
- Understand and apply the principles of healthy eating, diets, and recipes, including key processes, food groups and cooking equipment.
- Have awareness of inventors and events in history and of today that impact the world.
- Recognise how our decisions can impact the wider world in terms of community, social and environmental issues.
- Self-evaluate and reflect on learning at different stages and identify areas to improve.
- Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Design and technology.
