Design & Technology

What does Design Technology look like at Meldreth Primary?

Our Design and Technology curriculum engages, inspires and challenges pupils, equipping them with the levels of originality and willingness to take creative risks and produce innovative ideas and designs. As pupils progress, they are able to think critically and develop their knowledge of which tools, equipment and materials are best to use for their products and to better evaluate and improve these. Our D&T topics are always closely mapped and linked with our broader curriculum topics to ensure that our students receive a multi-faceted, deep and holistic learning experience.

Our Curriculum Aims  

Our curriculum for Design 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.

Curriculum Content

Early Years

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, design and technology forms part of the learning children acquire under the ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World' branch of the Foundation Stage curriculum, which also covers geography, history, ICT, and science.

Your child will learn through first-hand experiences. They will be encouraged to explore, observe, solve problems, think critically, make decisions and to talk about why they have made their decisions. 

Key Stage 1

Pupils are 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

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
  • 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

Key Stage 2

Pupils are taught to develop their techniques (including their control and their use of materials) with creativity, experimentation and an increasing awareness of different kinds of art, craft and design.

In particular, pupils are taught:

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

Make

  • select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks accurately (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing)
  • 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.

Curriculum Content

Cooking and nutrition

As part of their work with food, pupils are taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating. Instilling a love of cooking in pupils will also open a door to one of the great expressions of human creativity. Learning how to cook is a crucial life skill that enables pupils to feed themselves and others affordably and well, now and in later life.

Pupils are taught to:

Key Stage 1

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

Key Stage 2

  • 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.
Download our whole school curriculum plan for Design Technology by clicking the link below