DT Intent – What We Aspire for Your Child

At Green Park, we believe Design and Technology is an inspiring, practical and creative subject that equips children with the knowledge, skills and confidence to solve real problems. Our curriculum encourages pupils to become innovative thinkers who can design, make and evaluate products while developing resilience, creativity and critical thinking.

Our curriculum has been carefully sequenced from EYFS to Year 6, ensuring that technical knowledge, vocabulary and practical skills build progressively over time. Beginning with the foundations established in the Early Years through play, exploration and purposeful talk, children develop the understanding required to become successful designers and makers.

The curriculum is organised around six golden threads:

• Mechanisms and Movement
• Textiles
• Food and Nutrition
• Structures
• Electrical Systems
• Digital Design (CAD)

Within every unit, pupils revisit and strengthen the core disciplines of Design, Make and Evaluate, allowing knowledge and skills to be applied repeatedly in increasingly challenging contexts. Projects are carefully selected to provide meaningful links with the wider curriculum, particularly history and geography, enabling children to understand how design and technology has shaped societies, cultures and everyday life.

By the end of primary school, pupils will have developed the technical knowledge, practical expertise and design thinking needed to confidently investigate problems, communicate ideas and create high-quality products for real purposes and audiences.

DT Implementation – Bringing Innovation to Life in the Classroom

Our Design and Technology curriculum follows a clearly mapped progression of knowledge, vocabulary and skills from EYFS to Year 6. Each year group studies carefully planned projects that develop technical understanding within three of the golden threads, while continually revisiting the design process.

Teaching is structured around the iterative cycle of Design – Make – Evaluate. Children are taught to investigate existing products, identify user needs, generate and communicate ideas, select appropriate materials and tools, manufacture products safely and accurately, and evaluate their effectiveness against clear design criteria.

Technical knowledge and vocabulary are explicitly taught and revisited to support long-term retention. Knowledge builds progressively, for example from understanding simple wheels and axles in Key Stage 1 to using mechanical systems, electrical components and computer-aided design by the end of Key Stage 2. Practical skills develop alongside this knowledge, with increasing expectations for precision, independence, accuracy and problem-solving.

Food technology develops children's understanding of healthy eating, nutrition, food preparation and cultural traditions, while structures, textiles and mechanisms provide opportunities to apply mathematical understanding, scientific knowledge and creativity. Digital technologies, including CAD, are introduced where appropriate to reflect modern design processes.

Assessment is ongoing throughout each unit. Teachers use questioning, observation, practical outcomes and evaluation activities to monitor understanding and inform future teaching. Pupils regularly reflect on their own work and that of others, refining designs and developing resilience through the process of improvement.

DT Impact – The Lasting Benefits for Our Children

The impact of our Design and Technology curriculum is demonstrated through confident, creative and knowledgeable learners who can apply their understanding to solve practical problems.

Children leave each year with secure knowledge that builds on prior learning, an increasingly sophisticated technical vocabulary and a growing ability to design, make and evaluate purposeful products. They demonstrate increasing independence when selecting materials, using tools safely and accurately, and adapting designs in response to testing and evaluation.

Work produced across the curriculum shows clear progression in technical understanding, craftsmanship and design thinking. Pupils can explain the decisions they have made, justify the materials, techniques and processes they have selected, and evaluate their products against design criteria while identifying meaningful improvements.

By the end of Year 6, pupils are equipped with the knowledge, practical skills and creative confidence needed for secondary Design and Technology. They understand the role of design in everyday life, appreciate how technology influences the wider world and are prepared to become thoughtful, innovative and responsible designers of the future.