Intent

At Cottingley Village Primary School our children work as Designers and Technologists to develop their knowledge and skills to be the innovators of tomorrow.  We want our children to open their eyes to the possibilities of becoming the future architects, food technologists, chefs, carpenters, builders, or graphic designers or inventors that our rapidly changing world relies on.  We encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We believe that high-quality DT lessons will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and develop procedural and technical understanding. We believe that our DT curriculum develops our children’s growth mindset, resilience, and the enterprise skills necessary to make a valuable contribution to our wider world. Our DT curriculum provides children with opportunities to research, generate ideas and represent them in a number of ways. They explore, investigate, and develop their ideas to make purposeful products which they evaluate to celebrate success and identify future improvements.

Implementation

Through our learning challenge curriculum, our children work as Design Technologists to design and make purposeful products for a specific audience. Lessons are blocked to ensure children are provided with the necessary time to focus and develop the essential knowledge and skills. The curriculum is carefully designed to ensure all our children from EYFS through to Year experience a breadth of progressive challenges across mechanisms, structures, cooking and nutrition, electrical components, computer aided design and textiles.

When designing and making, the children are taught through key concepts which they revisit, embed, and build upon as they progress through school:

Design:

• Use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.
• Generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.

Make:

• Select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing, as well as chopping and slicing) accurately.
• Select from and use a wider range of materials, ingredients and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties, aesthetic qualities and, where appropriate, taste.

Evaluate:

• Investigate and analyse a range of existing products.
• Evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
• Understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Technical knowledge:

• Apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
• Understand and use mechanical systems in their products.
• Understand and use electrical systems in their products.
• Apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products
• Understand some of the ways that food can be processed and the effect of different cooking practices (including baking and grilling).

Impact

We ensure the children:

• Develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world
• Build and apply a repertoire of knowledge, understanding and skills in order to design and make high-quality prototypes and products for a wide range of users and critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook. Children will design and make a range of products. A good quality finish will be expected in all design and activities made appropriate to the age and ability of the child.

Children learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens. Through the evaluation of past and present design and technology, they develop a critical understanding of its impact on daily life and the wider world.

High-quality design and technology education makes an essential contribution to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of the nation.

Should you wish to know more about our Design and Technology curriculum, please look at our long term maps and skills progression document.

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