We intend to design a design technology curriculum with appropriate subject knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum Design Technology Programmes of study, to fulfil the duties of the NC whereby schools must provide a balanced and broadly-based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils and prepares them for the opportunities and responsibilities and experiences for later life.

Implementation:

• Clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum. The Design Technology National Curriculum and EYFS is planned for and covered in full within the EYFS, KS1 and KS2 school curriculum. Whilst the EYFS and National Curriculum forms the foundation of our curriculum, we make sure that children learn additional skills, knowledge and understanding and enhance our curriculum as and when necessary.
• Delivery of design and technology projects with a clear structure. Each year group will undertake a construction topic, a textile topic and a food/drink topic. Food and drink is of a particular focus for the school, ensuring nutrition is learnt about from an early age and providing opportunities each half term for the children to have exposure to making or sampling food and drink. This is all done through our creative curriculum with links to other subjects.
• Delivery showing clearly the design process that each project will follow: research, design, make and evaluate.
• A school garden plot allows children to take ownership and responsibility for cultivating crops and herbs.
• A range of skills will be taught ensuring that children are aware of health and safety issues related to the tasks undertaken.
• Clear and appropriate cross curricular links to underpin learning in multi areas across the curriculum giving the children opportunities to learn life skills and apply skills to ‘hands on’ situations in a purposeful context.
• Cross curricular project book are used to record evidence of learning. Children will undertake design tasks and use skills from across the curriculum to fully explore the design process evaluating work ensuring that it is of the highest possible quality. These project books will be thoroughly marked and assessed against the curriculum objective. Children are also asked to self-evaluate their work.
• Independent learning: In design technology children may well be asked to solve problems and develop their learning independently. This allows the children to have ownership over their curriculum and lead their own learning in Design Technology. This is underpinned by our enquiry based ‘bug questions’ we use across the curriculum. Read our curriculum overview for more information.
• Collaborative learning: In design and technology children may well be asked to work as part of a team learning to support and help one another towards a challenging, yet rewarding goal.

Impact:

• Children will have clear enjoyment and confidence in design and technology that they will then apply to other areas of the curriculum.
• Children will ultimately know more, remember more and understand more about Design Technology, demonstrating this knowledge when using tools or skills in other areas of the curriculum and in opportunities out of school.
• The large majority of children will achieve age related expectations in Design Technology.
• As designers children will develop skills and attributes they can use beyond school and into adulthood.
• Children will have been exposed to a number of well-known designers from a diverse background.

Skills Progressions Year 1     Year 1 – Freestanding structures; Year 1 – Preparing fruit and vegetables; Year 1 – Sliders and Levers; Year 1 – Food; Year 1 – Mechanism; Year 1 – Structures

Skills Progressions Year 2     Year 2 – Preparing fruit and vegetables; Year 2 – Templates and joining techniques; Year 2 – Wheels and axles; Year 2 – Food; Year 2 – Mechanisms; Year 2 – Textiles

Skills Progressions Year 3     Year 3 – Healthy and varied diet; Year 3 – Levers and linkages; Year 3 – Shell structures; Year 3 – Food; Year 3 – Mechanical systems; Year 3 – Structures

Skills Progressions Year 4     Year 4 – 2-D shape to 3-D product; Year 4 – Pneumatics; Year 4 – Simple circuits and switches; Year 4 – Electrical systems; Year 4 – Food; Year 4 – Textiles

Skills Progressions Year 5     Year 5 – Celebrating culture and seasonality; Year 5 – Combining different fabric shapes; Year 5 – Pulleys or gears; Year 5 – Food; Year 5 – Mechanical systems; Year 5 – Textiles

Skills Progressions Year 6     Year 6 – Celebrating culture and seasonality; Year 6 – Frame structures; Year 6 – More complex switches and circuits; Year 6 – Electrical systems; Year 6 – Food; Year 6 – Structures

St John’s EYFS Curriculum

Whole School Curriculum Overview 2021 Y1-Y6