Design & Technology

Vision Statement

At The Blue School, our aim is to prepare pupils to be creative thinkers, encouraging pupils to make positive changes to their quality of life through DT.

All learners will be exposed to and will have the ability to apply a range of skills in designing and making while following a sequenced curriculum, which builds upon the skills learnt in the early years through to more sophisticated projects involving circuits and more complex joinery in the upper key stage 2.

Children at The Blue School will draw upon a large knowledge base, which has been built upon year after year through dedicated exercises in retrieval and effective evaluation of skills learnt.

The National Curriculum for DT is now in two strands – designing and making, and cooking and nutrition.

This page provides prospective parents and visitors with a glimpse into our curriculum. Parents of Blue School pupils are provided with detailed guides to subject planning in the form of ‘Knowledge Organisers’ in Parent Zone.

Design & Technology Sequence

National Curriculum Guidelines

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.

The Blue School wishes to promote evaluation within projects and to give children the time to consider improvements they may wish to make before moving on. Moreover, it is important children at The Blue School engage with companies and experts in the local community.

Pupils at The Blue School benefit from a diverse environment within the local community who can offer a wide range of expertise from engineering to product design. We want design technology to be taught with our children in mind, which means allowing them to engage with the learned experiences of those in the community who utilise the very skills they are immersed in. Furthermore, children begin to see pathways for future careers in design technology, which may not have been fully realised. It is important we make a connection with the skills they are learning and the real world context in which they exist.

Early Years Foundation

In EYFS, children begin to construct things using simple tools like scissors, glue and string. They will begin the earliest stage of planning their ideas and learn to adapt their ideas to make them better. Children will have the opportunity to deconstruct simple things to see how they work. Additionally, EYFS explore different activities through the senses, and through meaningful discussion, will learn to record their experiences by drawing and writing.

Key Stage 1

Children practise the core skills of ‘Design, Make and Evaluate’. In Years 1 and 2, children think about their own design, making choices about tools before considering a design criteria. In the Make stage, pupils will explain what they are making and be able to join things together by the end of the key stage. Within the Evaluate stage, children will be able to appraise products and discuss their own work linked to what they have been asked to do. At the end of the key stage, children will judge their work against a criteria.

Lower Key Stage 2

Pupils can now show their design meets a range of requirements, and in the Make stage, children are using tools more accurately and towards the end of Year 4, have a greater understanding of the quality of their own products. Year 3 pupils continue to practise their burgeoning skills in the evaluation of existing products. One year later, we expect pupils to explain how their own products will appeal to an audience.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5 pupils are now confident in making suggestions to improve their original design, and in Year 6, this skill has been refined to the extent children can create step by step plans informed by market research. Children are utilising a range of computer-aided design features as well as considering prototypes. Tools are handled expertly within the upper key stage, and in Year 6 children consider a wider array of vocabulary to appraise their products, such as ‘aesthetics.’ Additionally, children consider the wider functionality of their work, and in evaluation, testing takes place to judge whether their product is fit for purpose.

Themes of the Curriculum

At The Blue School, teachers in Key Stage One use the guidance from the LCP Raising the Standards scheme to support medium term planning and lesson planning. There are themes suggested for each year group, which focus on teaching progressive objectives of the curriculum. In the Early Years (Reception and Nursery) teachers plan experiences to meet the skills outlined in the Expressive Art and Design area of the Foundation Stage curriculum.

Themes covered include:

Year 1 – Moving Pictures, Homes, Fruit and Vegetables
Year 2 – Joseph’s coat, Vehicles
Year 3 – Sandwiches and Packaging, Photo frames
Year 4 – Money containers, Lighting it up
Year 5 – Musical instruments, Biscuits
Year 6 – Shelters, Slippers

When designing and making pupils are taught to:

Design
Make
Evaluate
Technical Knowledge

Cross-Curricular Approach to Learning

Throughout the school the standard of work produced in this area of the curriculum is outstanding. Children have access to a wide variety of resources and teachers often adopt a cross-curricular approach to learning; linking subjects such as ICT to lessons. D&T features in the success of ‘Black History Week’ in October each year. Every class makes resources linked to using DT and/or Art skills.

Design Technology (DT) is taught at least once a term for a block of usually six or seven weeks. This subject is rotated with Art. Work from every class is showcased in classroom displays throughout the year and to families through a highly successful exhibition evening held every July.