At St Andrew's CE VA Primary School, our Design and Technology Curriculum provides opportunities for the children to think of themselves as, and become, designers and producers of purposeful products that will be used in real-life contexts. We encourage the children to think and intervene creatively to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team. The children consider their own and others’ needs, wants and values. The children are also given opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and effectiveness. We allow pupils to flourish as collaborators, enterprisers, risk-takers and problem solvers whilst developing their practical designing and making ability.

Within the Design and Technology Progression of Skills Map, our progressive objectives identify what pupils should know by the end of each year group and link to prior learning. These enable teachers to identify and plug gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills.

Within Design and Technology, pupils will develop a deep understanding of key concepts and second order concepts. These key concepts have been carefully considered and identified as the core knowledge and skills, required to successfully achieve in Design and Technology.

The Key concepts are revisited and developed as the pupils move through the school to ensure the knowledge and skills are firmly embedded within the long-term memory. These key concepts compliment work carried out across the school in line with our key curriculum drivers. The expectation is that, by the end of primary school, children will know and understand these key concepts and to give them a solid foundation to enter the Design and Technology curriculum at KS3.

In addition to first order concepts, subject specific second order concepts have been identified. These can be used across all aspects of a subject to organise the substantive knowledge and skills taught.

The Design and Technology curriculum is structured into six key concepts:

• Appraise and Analyse
• Technical Knowledge
• Practise
• Generate Ideas and Design
• Develop and make
• Evaluate

Second order concepts:

These second order concepts will be explored and developed throughout the D&T curriculum as pupils move through the school. They can be used across all aspects of a subject to organise the substantive knowledge taught.

– Responsibility: (working safely, how design can solve problems, choosing the right materials, responsibilities to customers to ensure quality / reliable products, healthy eating, quality ingredients)

– Similarity and difference: (making comparisons, noting differences and drawing conclusions)

– Cause and consequence: (identifying how things work, how an action can cause change/movement)

– Significance: (significant designers and designs, real world examples of effective and successful products)

– Written and oral expression: (Using terminology, evaluating, creating accurate designs, labelling and annotating, explaining processes, presenting)

By the end of EYFS, pupils will:

• be able to explore and choose a range of materials to create and make things
• be able to investigate how things work
• draw, build and make things which fulfil a function

By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils will:

• learn the knowledge and skills needed to design and make products for a range of relevant contexts
• be able to design and test products that are purposeful and appealing
• select tools and materials which are most suitable to make their products from
• evaluate their products against existing products and design criteria
• develop the technical knowledge needed to build structures which are stronger and more stable and be able to use a range of mechanisms

• develop an understanding of where food comes from and how to use the basic principles of a healthy diet to make their own simple dishes

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils will:

• develop further knowledge and skills to enable them to design and make purposeful and quality products in different contexts
• be able to research how existing products work and use this to develop designs and products to meet a design brief
• be able to produce more detailed, annotated designs and to test and refine their ideas
• be able to select and use a wider range of tools and materials according to their function and properties
• develop the technical knowledge required to make their products work effectively
• be able to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of their products and use this to improve their work
• develop an understanding of a healthy and varied diet and be able to prepare and cook a range of dishes.

Any child working below their age-related expectation will receive a tailored curriculum with personalised objectives taken from the Curriculum Assessment tools. This will enable all children to build the skills and knowledge needed to bridge the gap between themselves and their peers, enabling them to reach their full potential.