Design & Technology at New Park

At New Park Primary, we aim to deliver a high-quality Design and Technology curriculum which provides children with the foundations to understand the influence of design and technology in the modern world and enables them to develop the creative and technical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to meet the design and technology challenges of today and the future. Children create their products through a research, design and making process where they can add their ideas whilst learning the key aspects of design and technology. As part of our curriculum, we offer excellent enrichment opportunities to boost their knowledge such as design and technology focus days. Children can access this subject further through the design and technology extra-curricular activities.

Aims

Our Design Technology curriculum has been designed to meet the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and reflect our context and community, with our planning structure aiming to promote continuity and progression through inspiring projects which enable pupils to:

• develop the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and to participate successfully in an increasingly technological world.
• gain an understand of how significant designers have brought about change and the influence they have had.
• build and apply a bank 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 key principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

Subject content Key stage 1

When designing and making, pupils will be taught to:

Design

• design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria.
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology.
• Children use their understanding of significant people in a given area to aid their own designs.

Make

• select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing].
• select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.

Evaluate

• explore and evaluate a range of existing products and the work of significant designers.
• evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria.

Technical knowledge

• build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.
• explore and use mechanisms [for example, levers, sliders, wheels and axles], in their products.

Cooking and nutrition

• use the basic principles of a healthy and varied diet to prepare dishes.
• understand where food comes from.

Subject Content Key stage 2

When designing and making, pupils will be taught to:

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 and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.
• children will draw on design concepts used by significant designers to aid their own designs.

Make

• select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately.
• select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities.

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 [for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages].
• understand and use electrical systems in their products [for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors].
• apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Cooking and nutrition

• understand and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet 
• prepare and cook a variety of predominantly savoury dishes using a range of cooking techniques.
• understand seasonality, and know where and how a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed.

CAD

• apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

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