Design and Technology at Blandford St Mary Primary 

Curriculum Intent Statement

Design and Technology prepares children to take part in the development of our rapidly changing world. Creative thinking encourages children to make positive changes to their quality of life. The subject encourages children to become autonomous and creative problem-solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team. It enables them to identify needs and opportunities and to respond by developing ideas and making products and systems.

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.

Curriculum Implementation Statement

Our curriculum is driven by curiosity, language and resilience. Pupils at Blandford St Mary are encouraged to be curious and solve problems. Learning can be explored through discussing disciplinary questions such as:

• How can I design a product for a specific user?

• How can I design a product for a specific purpose?

 • How can I ensure my product is functional?

 • How can I ensure my ideas are innovative?

• How can I ensure my product is authentic?

Our curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum and has been mapped to build on prior learning. Through the use of high quality resources, children will be given the opportunity to explore designing and making linked to real world contexts. All teaching of DT follows the design, make and evaluate cycle, with carefully sequenced lessons from analysing the existing products, through to evaluating the finished version made by the children.

Curriculum Impact Statement

At Blandford St Mary, children’s sketchbooks show learning sequences that develop their design skills through a variety of rich tasks. Recorded work evidences snapshots of the learning sequence. Independent work shows the children’s understanding of the lesson and gives a snapshot of their learning throughout the overall lesson. Over time, sketchbook work shows children know more and can apply more. The application of their new technical knowledge and skills is assessed through the product that pupils design and make as part of each unit of work. The impact of our DT curriculum is also reviewed through lesson drop-ins and pupil discussions.