Design Technology

Headlands Primary School | Design Technology Narrative 

Our NPAT Design & Technology curriculum enables our children to develop the design expertise they need in the world they live in so that they can flourish and reach their potential. It encourages children to become independent, creative problem solvers and thinkers as individuals and as part of a team. Our children are given every opportunity to build their substantive knowledge (factual content) and disciplinary knowledge (the skills) in all elements of the Design & Technology curriculum as they master the skills of how to be successful citizens in our rapidly changing word; they are encouraged to develop their design, practical and evaluation skills to help in the world of further education, work and in their future lives. They may be inspired to pursue further study and career paths in Design & Technology. Design & Technology has deep links with Maths, Science and Computing, forming a key component of the STEM curriculum. Children will recognise how some disciplinary knowledge is transferable and can help them to solve problems across these subject areas. The curriculum has been carefully constructed to ensure children obtain a solid understanding of key Design & Technology skills, concepts, and knowledge. We aim to offer rich and vibrant opportunities within the curriculum which draw upon meaningful real-life experiences.

Design & Technology is designed and taught with an understanding that the working memory is limited and that we can aid learning and the acquisition of the long-term memory with regular repeated learning experiences over time.

Design and technology is an inspiring, rigorous, and practical subject. Using creativity and imagination, pupils design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. They acquire a broad range of subject knowledge and draw on disciplines such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing, and art. Pupils 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. (National Curriculum 2014)

The following high-dividend concepts have been identified as an integral part of the Design & Technology curriculum: Structures, Food, Mechanisms and Mechanical Systems, Textiles, Digital World and Electrical systems. The disciplinary skills, which are progressive, are Designing, Making and Evaluating; these skills are broken down into small steps and frequently revisited and built upon in units across the year group and key stage. Teachers will make explicit reference to where children have met these concepts previously in the curriculum.

Through the Design & Technology curriculum, children will be taught the national curriculum objectives thoroughly, ensuring that each year group builds on previous learning so there is clear progression. Through this diversity of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They will also work in a range of relevant contexts. During Design & Technology units, pupils will have the opportunity to develop their technical knowledge through designing, making and evaluating a product, as well as gaining health and safety knowledge.

The NPAT Design & Technology curriculum is based on KAPOW. Children engage in alternate terms of Design & Technology which is taught weekly. The NPAT long term plan visits each Design & Technology element once in KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2 building on prior learning. KAPOW units have been chosen to follow a chronological and progressive pathway ensuring all important skills and understanding are developed continually.

Horizontal links are explicitly made through each year group. The Disciplinary skills of designing, making, and evaluating will be taught, applied and developed progressively throughout each year group’s units in different contexts. For example, Year One will evaluate the product of a chair before embarking on their designs of baby bear’s chair and will then use these same skills at a higher level to evaluate puppets in the summer term.

Vertical links are made in all the high-dividend concepts of Design & Technology (Structures, Electrical Systems, Food, Textiles, Programming, Mechanics, or Mechanical Systems) throughout the key stages. These elements are taught throughout the school in alternate years. The key disciplinary skills, knowledge and understanding underpin all Design & Technology Units, each year group building on previous knowledge and skills. For example, Year 4 will use micro: bits and those skills will be built upon in the Year 6 unit on ‘The Digital World’.

Diagonal links are explicitly made with Computing, Maths and Science as part of STEM, however there are links with other areas of the curriculum for example, History and Geography. This supports their understanding and the application of the Design & Technology units. Examples of links are science (Year 4 make torches once completing their science unit on Electrical circuits, and Maths (Year 5 will use their skills of measuring in their Bridges unit)

During EYFS, with reference to the NPAT Curriculum Frameworks for EYFS, children will begin to develop their substantive, disciplinary and conceptual knowledge through playing, building blocks, junk modelling, weaving, cutting, and sticking, exploring materials, healthy eating, and mechanisms. They can underpin this understanding with the KAPOW EYFS units which introduce the high-dividend concepts of Design & Technology.

During KS1, with reference to the National Curriculum, children will develop their knowledge, understanding and skills, through a variety of creative and practical activities. These skills will help them to learn how to design, make and evaluate products for a particular purpose, using a range of tools and equipment, materials, and ingredients. The following units of work have been selected to build upon the experiences in EYFS: Baby Bear’s Chair (Structures), Smoothies (Food), Puppets (Textiles), Making a Moving Monster (Mechanisms), Pouches (Textiles), Eating Seasonally (Food)

During Lower Key Stage 2 the following units of work have been selected to build on the KS1 units: Cushions (Textiles), Pneumatic Toys (Mechanical Systems), Pavilions (Structures), Wearable Technology (Digital World), Torches (Electrical Systems), Adapting a Recipe (Food).

During Upper Key Stage 2, the following units of work have been selected to build upon lower KS2: Bridges (Structures), Fastenings (Textiles), Gears and Pulleys (Mechanical Systems), Developing a Recipe (Food), Steady Hand Game (Electrical Systems), Digital World (Navigating the World).

By the end of KS2, with reference to the National Curriculum, through a variety of creative and practical activities, children will develop their knowledge, understanding and skills. These skills will help them to learn how to research and develop design criteria, to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, to generate, develop, model, and communicate their ideas through discussion, diagrams, sketches, protypes and CAD. They will be able to select from a wide range of tools, materials and equipment and investigate, analyse, and evaluate products against their own design criteria, understanding how to improve their work and understanding how individuals in Design & Technology have helped shape the world.

The Design & Technology curriculum and pedagogy will enable children to begin secondary school with a well-developed understanding of how to work collaboratively towards a common goal such as planning and developing projects. They will be able to share ideas, make comparisons, negotiate, and offer each other feedback to ensure a high-quality outcome. They will become enthusiastic, motivated independent learners, with a real love of learning.

Key Design & Technology vocabulary is specified and explicitly taught as part of the Design & Technology Curriculum. The development of vocabulary progresses throughout the Design & Technology curriculum.