We believe that Design and Technology should be taught as a discrete, skills-based subject as this is the best way to develop clear progression and make the teaching and learning more rigorous. From Year 1 onwards, children are taught to research, design and evaluate in order to embed the principles of design and technology from an early age. Ultimately, we want children to enjoy the design process: to understand that good design begins as a thoughtfully considered, original idea but evolves through modifications over time.

Our curriculum uses the Design and Technology Association’s ‘Projects on a Page’. This provides a framework that enables a sequence of learning objectives to be delivered across a series of lessons. These have been planned out so that all teachers work from the same planning. Children are immersed into the design process by evaluating a range of products at the outset. Using their own ideas, they then plan with a clear ‘project intention’ and an ‘intended user’ in mind. These two aspects provide a design criteria that helps them to evaluate the products as they progress through the stages. Within lessons, teachers use AfL strategies in order to move learning forward, with class discussions helping to build on children’s prior knowledge and develop their thinking.