Curriculum Intent – Design Technology 

January 2023 

Design Technology is an area of the curriculum which focuses on planning, designing, creating and evaluating products for people to use. It incorporates food technology, textiles, electronics and construction using a range different materials including wood, plastic and cardboard. 

At St Mary’s, Design Technology is part of our broad and balanced curriculum and is a subject which engages children and encourages them to think independently and use their creativity. Through the problem solving involved in designing and creating a product for a specific purpose, children develop their growth mindset and perseverance. 

During their time at St Mary’s, children develop skills which fit into the following categories: 

• Designing – generating, developing and communicating their ideas 

• Making – selecting from a wide range of tools and materials to produce a product 

• Evaluating – both existing products and their own finished product 

• Technical knowledge – building structures and using mechanisms in KS1, leading onto electrical systems and computer programming in KS2 

• Cooking and nutrition – understanding the principles of a balanced diet, knowing where food comes from and preparing a range of dishes 

Design Technology lessons are usually linked to the current learning experiences of the children, whether this is a History or Geography unit or relating to computing or science lessons. 

These diverse and creative learning opportunities excite and engage children and instil a love of design technology that we hope will remain with children for life. 

How will we achieve our Curriculum Intent for Design Technology? 

The Design Technology curriculum at St. Mary’s encompasses the National Curriculum as set out by the Dept. for Education published in September 2013. At St. Mary’s, we use the Kapow scheme of work to support our teaching of this subject. 

The key skills are revisited each year, building on previous learning. Each unit is usually taught in a cross-curricular way - linked to the term’s overarching theme so that the children can develop and apply their learning in this area. For example, as part of the Year 3 and 4, ‘Is Plastic Fantastic?’ topic, children have the opportunity to produce both tie-dye t-shirts and upcycled denim bags showing that fashion can be kind to the environment.

Design Technology may also be taught alongside other curriculum areas such as science or computing. For example, when covering the science topic on ‘Forces’ in Year 5, children are provided with an opportunity for children to use levers, pulleys and gears in a DT project whilst exploring the effects these mechanisms have on the forces involved. 

In addition to this, there are strong links to our core values in particular, Creativity and Perseverance, which teachers will regularly refer to during Design and Technology lessons. 

We work closely with a range of visitors to support our teaching and learning in Design and Technology.  The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts lead sessions in school, teaching the children knife skills, taste sensations and helping them to prepare a range of savoury dishes including crudités and dips. Our Phunky Foods Ambassador supports our learning on how to have a healthy balanced diet, and visitors such as engineers are invited in to talk about career paths and carry out practical activities linked to our science and DT curriculum. 

As well as welcoming these visitors into school, we enjoy regular Pause Days and Curriculum Weeks where Design Technology often features heavily. This excites and engages children and gives them opportunities to use their DT skills in a variety of ways.