We believe that through DT, children will have the opportunity to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs and wants. They will acquire a range of practical life skills such as cutting, folding, strengthening and joining accurately. Pupils will develop the ability to plan ahead, find creative solutions to practical problems and adapt when things don’t go to plan. The attitudes and attributes they have learnt in DT will give them the tools to become resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable citizens.

Through the DT food units, children will develop a wholesome, open-minded approach to food and begin to acquire the skills to prepare healthy meals for themselves and others.

The curriculum is organised into blocks with each block covering a particular set of disciplines, including mechanisms, structures, food and nutrition, materials, textiles and systems. Vertical progression in each discipline has been deliberately woven into the fabric of the curriculum so that pupils revisit key disciplines throughout their Primary journey at increasing degrees of challenge and complexity. 

Aims of the Design and Technology Curriculum

The national curriculum for design and technology aims 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 cook.