Design Technology

Intent

At Weston St Mary, we have designed a DT curriculum that is creative, practical and provides children with the chance to problem-solve and develop their own creative ideas as individuals and as part of a team.

We aim to provide our children with the opportunity to use their imagination to design and make products within a variety of contexts, to provide motivation and meaning to their learning.

Wherever we look, evidence of design is all around us. From chairs to hospital equipment, from clothes to websites, from advertisements on the side of a bus to playground equipment, everything has been designed. This curriculum aims to inspire students to think about the important and integral role which design and the creation of designed products play in our society.

Children will be taught a range of topics including; mechanisms, textiles, food technology, structures, and electrical systems (in Key Stage 2). Through hands-on, practical experiences we aim for children to leave Year 6 with the knowledge and skills of DT which will inspire them to be chefs, engineers, sculptures, carpenters, designers, architects, etc. We recognise the important role of DT in preparing our children with skills for life which will enable them to be creative individuals as they continue their education in secondary school and beyond. 

Implementation

Our DT curriculum is split into three different areas: ‘cook’, ‘sew’ and ‘build’. It is designed so that each year group will complete a unit of work in these three different areas once a year.

In recognition of limited time and competing curriculum demands in the primary school setting, each unit has been devised to be delivered in a five-hour block, once a term, which can be taught over a single day or two half days usually at the end of the term.

Two different ‘aspects’ of design are interwoven into the three areas of study: the environment and sustainability, and enterprise and innovation. These ‘aspects’ acknowledge enduring and contemporary concerns of modern design.

Each unit specifies the concepts and skills which the students are expected to learn over the course of a unit. These concepts and skills progress gradually throughout the course of the six years of study.

Weston St Mary Design Technology Long Term Plan 2025-26

impact

Our Design Technology curriculum is high quality, knowledge-based, well-sequenced and is planned to demonstrate progression. If our pupils have understood and retained knowledge from the carefully sequenced curriculum we have taught, we know that they are where they should be.

At Weston St Mary C of E Primary School we ensure that children are equipped with design technology skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.

Pupils are taught to link and apply the knowledge they are gaining across subjects, thereby deepening understanding of the connections between different aspects of their learning.

We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning design technology and leave school equipped with a range of skills enabling them to succeed in their secondary education and be resourceful and innovative members of society.