Intent

Design and Technology should provide children with a real life context for learning. Through the DT curriculum, children should be inspired to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems and food products with a real life purpose. Pupils will learn how to take risks, becoming resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens both as individuals and as members of a team. 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. 

We aim to ensure that all pupils:

• 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
• critique, evaluate and test their ideas and products and the work of others
• understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to prepare food

Implementation 

We have a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. Children have access to key knowledge, language and meanings to understand Design Technology and to use these skills appropriately. Consideration has been given to ensure progression across topics throughout each year group across the school; with certain topics revisited in subsequent years with a deeper focus to further improve understanding and long-term retention. 

Our curriculum design is based on evidence from cognitive science; three main principles underpin it:

• Learning is most effective with spaced repetition.

• Interleaving helps pupils to discriminate between topics and aids long-term retention.

• Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both storage and retrieval

strength.

In addition to the three principles, we also understand that learning is invisible in the short term and that sustained mastery takes time.

Impact:

The impact and measure of this is to ensure that children are equipped with technical skills and knowledge in DT which will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world. We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about DT, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.