At St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School, design and technology will be fully inclusive of every child. Our aims are to: fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for design and technology, provide a broad and balanced curriculum,  and ensure the progressive development of knowledge and skills. We want to encourage our children to become problem solvers who can work creatively on a shared project. We believe that high-quality DT lessons will inspire children to think independently, innovatively and develop creative, procedural and technical understanding. Our DT curriculum will provide children with opportunities to research, represent their ideas, explore and investigate, develop their ideas, make a product and evaluate their work. Children will be exposed to a wide range of media including textiles and food; through this, children will develop their skills, vocabulary and resilience. 

It is our intent that 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 
• Can critique, evaluate and test ideas and products and the work of others 
• Understand and apply the principles of nutrition and learn how to cook.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in design and technology, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Design and technology is taught as part of a termly topic, focusing on knowledge and skills stated in the National Curriculum.

Skills are revisited so that consolidation can take place and pupils are encouraged to reflect on their own art and that of others.

Subject specific vocabulary is taught and reinforced. The use of this vocabulary is encouraged in all work relating to the planning, designing, making and evaluating of products.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the unit is taught.
• Summative assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.
• Evidence of what the child has produced
• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
• Termly assessment against key skills
• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.