Design Technology (DT) at Duke Street Primary School
At Duke Street Primary School, the foundation stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 all receive Design and Technology lessons, which focus on different skills and techniques to design, make and evaluate innovative products based on a design brief.
D&T gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of designing and making functional products. We feel it is vital to nurture creativity and innovation through design, and by exploring the designed and made world in which we all live and work.
Key Changes to our Design Technology Curriculum
These include:
- Products to be made for a purpose.
- Ensure individuality in children’s design and construction of products.
- Two strands: Designing and Making and Cooking and Nutrition.
- More emphasis on creating ‘innovative’ products in KS2.
- Teaching the importance of making on-going changes and improvements during making stages.
- Looking into seasonality of ingredients and how they are grown, caught or reared.
- The introduction of computing and coding of products in KS2.
- Researching key events and individuals in KS2
Why do we teach DT?
The national curriculum outlines Design Technology (DT) as ‘an inspiring, rigorous and practical subject’( DfE: 2014) DT is designed to capture the children’s imagination and creativity and become inventors and designers in order to make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts. The curriculum stress that this subject area enables children to become innovative by learning how to take risks. This develops other characteristics of learning and developing such as;
- Being resourceful
- Enterprising
- Capable citizens
This subject area also probes the children’s evaluative skills in order for the children to develop a critical understanding of the impact of their product on daily life and the wider world.
The national curriculum 2014 highlights that DT also makes an essential contribution to…
- Creativity
- Culture
- Wealth and well-being of the nation
Aims of DT
The national curriculum has 4 main aims which are;
- 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.
Key Documents for Design Technology
DT Policy
Progression of Skills Document for DT
The 3 'I's for DT
2 year cycle for Design Technology
2 year cycle - DT
DT Policy
DT Policy
Design and Technology throughout school during autumn term 2023
Throughout autumn term, the whole school will be focusing on Food Technology. We love to see how all the children are progressing from Key Stage 1, all the way to Upper Key Stage 2, so we think it is best that the whole school focus on the same unit of DT at the same time.
Although the whole of the school will be covering food, all the different key stages will be covering different elements of food, and focusing on different objectives.
The focus for each key stage will be different, based upon their understanding of food, but all key stages will develop their understanding of; the food production process, health and safety around food, designing and making food to meet a certain purpose and user, and evaluating their product.
During the autumn term, each key stage will focus on:
KS1, LKS2 and UKS2 focus
In KS1, the children will be preparing fruit and vegetables to create a Vegetable salad.
In LKS2, the children will be looking at healthy and varied diets to create Toasties.
In UKS2, the children will be looking at celebrating culture and seasonality to create Pizzas.
Design and Technology throughout school during spring term 2024
Throughout spring term, the whole school will be focusing on moving systems. We love to see how all the children are progressing from Key Stage 1, all the way to Upper Key Stage 2, so we think it is best that the whole school focus on the same unit of DT at the same time.
Although the whole of the school will be covering moving systems, all the different key stages will be covering different elements, and focusing on different objectives, building on skills from the previous years.
During the spring term, each key stage will focus on:
In KS1, the children will be focusing on sliders and levers to create a moving picture.
In LKS2, the children will be focusing on levers and linkages to create a moving iron giant model.
In UKS2, the children will be focusing on gears or pulleys to create a toy car.
Design and Technology throughout school during summer term 2024
Throughout summer term, the whole school will be focusing on structures. We love to see how all the children are progressing from Key Stage 1, all the way to Upper Key Stage 2, so we think it is best that the whole school focus on the same unit of DT at the same time.
Although the whole of the school will be covering structures, all the different key stages will be covering different elements, and focusing on different objectives, building on skills from the previous years.
During the summer term, each key stage will focus on:
In KS1, the children will be focusing on freestanding structures to create a model of a park.
In LKS2, the children will be focusing on shell structures to create a new box to contain donuts.
In UKS2, the children will be focusing on frame structures to create a kite.
