At Byker Primary School, we are fully committed to providing children with an enriching, relevant and purposeful DT curriculum which fully prepares pupils for their future life and career beyond school. In a rapidly changing world, technology must be embraced; we seek to ensure children are collaborative and adaptive learners who can solve real life problems through drawing upon their rich skillset. We firmly believe that DT inspires children to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding. 

Our curriculum is underpinned by our three curriculum drivers. By understanding our place in the world, pupils explore how design and technology is present in their lives and across the world as they will be exposed to various significant, real-life projects which have resulted in products we are familiar with. Children will explore key designers and inventors – both locally and globally – to discover how real-world problems are solved with products and how these are meaningful to them. DT provides children with an opportunity to explore the world around them and unearth how many products are the result of previous problems thereby allowing the children to broaden their horizons. By participating in practical activities with a range of media, children can develop an appreciation for being innovative and seeking solutions to their own problems as future designers. We hope to inspire our pupils to seek their own career paths as designers, inventors and architects beyond Byker. Furthermore, children are encouraged to aspire to achieve through their rich experiences of various media wherein they can embrace first-hand enquiry, allowing them to solve their own problems in their lives. Likewise, through exploring real-life products, children can consider their own opportunities as future designers, inventors and innovators.

To embed and support learning, children will make connections across learned skills, problems and learning experiences through our key concepts: belonging, choice and influence. Pupils will consider local designers and inventors which have influenced their community through the creation of products and inventions to ensure they feel that DT is relevant and purposeful in their lives and to create a sense of belonging. Likewise, choice underpins the nature of our DT curriculum as pupils are given real-life problems and are given a platform to solve these in their own way. Children can consider options presented to them and form their own judgements on scenarios which allows them to respond to a problem in their own, unique way. Furthermore, as children will explore various designers and their products, they can consider the influence DT has on their daily lives and the positive and negatives effects this may encompass. Through this, children can appreciate the vital role DT holds in the 21st century.

Subject Content

Key stage 1

When designing and making, pupils will be 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.
• Children use their understanding of significant people in a given area to aid their own designs.

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 and the work of significant designers.
• 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.

Cooking and nutrition

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

 

Key stage 2

When designing and making, pupils will be taught to:

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.
• children will draw on design concepts used by significant designers to aid their own designs.

Make

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

Cooking and nutrition

• 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.