Design Technology

We believe in ‘process over product’ and that all learners can develop independent, creative and critical thinking within this process.

Key Purpose of Design & Technology

Empower & Celebrate Inclusion

All children are able to take part and develop their skills, knowledge and behaviours in line with their needs.
All children can ‘see themselves’ reflected in the inspiring designers and engineers they learn about.

Overcome Challenges

Children experience problem solving and failure within a safe and supportive environment.
Teachers are confident in their subject knowledge and know where to seek additional support when needed.

Develop Innovation

All projects allow children to design innovative products.
Innovation is encouraged and supported through quality teaching.
A wide range of options and examples are planned into each project.

Stewardship & World Relationship

We understand our responsibilities as stewards of the Earth.
When planning projects, we seek to be sustainable in how we resource projects.
We seek projects that teach children to build products that will last.
When disposing of used resources, we recycle and reuse wherever possible.
We teach children skills they can use in the real world to reuse and repair.

Core Concept & Foundational Skills

Threshold Concepts: Iteration and Evaluation

Iteration & Evaluation	Design / CAD (Every Year)	Food	Textiles	Structures	Mechanisms / Control
Products are made for a purpose and a user. Design criteria is used to set expectations and steer evaluations. Evaluation happens in every lesson and leads to improved designs and learning.	Ideas can be represented through drawing, modelling and discussions. Computers can be used to create accurate and repeated designs.	Key principles of nutrition. How to prepare and combine ingredients. How to cut using tools.	Textiles can be selected, joined, and decorated using templates and stitching to create functional products. The action of weaving in and out.	Materials have beneficial properties. Materials can be shaped, strengthened and joined to create products. How to cut materials with tools.	Movement can be created and changed through mechanisms. Electrical and programmable (microbits) systems can be used to enhance products.

Practicing & Embedding Foundational Skills

Area	Focus Skills
Communication & Language (CLL)	Spoken communication applied alongside drawings: talking in sentences, developing vocabulary, and reciprocity.
Executive Function	• Opportunities to practice waiting – sharing of tools and resources. • Practicing blocking out background distractions and remaining on task in a busy environment. • Embedding ability to follow multi-step instructions (deliberately scaffolded). • Setting goals and sustaining work towards them. • Developing self-regulation skills for high levels of resilience.
Writing	• Pre-writing skills: shoulder strength, drawing lines and shapes. • Applying learning from SSP teaching to label diagrams. • Application of writing for a purpose and accurate sentence construction.
Maths	Application of subitising, number bonds, tables, and shape knowledge.

Progression: Early Years (Reception Outcomes)

Communication & Language	PSED	Physical Development	Expressive Arts & Design	Understanding the World
ELG: Speaking Offer explanations for why things might happen. Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences.	ELG: Managing Self Manage basic hygiene, personal needs, dressing, and healthy choices. Show independence, resilience, and perseverance. ELG: Self Regulation Set and work towards simple goals, wait for what they want, and control immediate impulses. ELG: Building Relationships Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs.	ELG: Gross Motor Skills Demonstrate strength, balance, and coordination when playing. ELG: Fine Motor Skills Hold a pencil effectively (tripod grip). Use small tools including scissors, paintbrushes, and cutlery.	ELG: Creating with Materials Safely use and explore materials, tools, and techniques (colour, design, texture, form, function). Share creations and explain processes. Use props in story roleplay. Show accuracy and care when drawing.	ELG: Past and Present Talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society. ELG: People, Culture & Communities Know similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities.

Communication & Language

PSED

Physical Development

Expressive Arts & Design

Understanding the World

ELG: Speaking
Offer explanations for why things might happen. Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences.

ELG: Managing Self
Manage basic hygiene, personal needs, dressing, and healthy choices. Show independence, resilience, and perseverance.

ELG: Self Regulation
Set and work towards simple goals, wait for what they want, and control immediate impulses.

ELG: Building Relationships
Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs.

ELG: Gross Motor Skills
Demonstrate strength, balance, and coordination when playing.

ELG: Fine Motor Skills
Hold a pencil effectively (tripod grip). Use small tools including scissors, paintbrushes, and cutlery.

ELG: Creating with Materials
Safely use and explore materials, tools, and techniques (colour, design, texture, form, function). Share creations and explain processes. Use props in story roleplay. Show accuracy and care when drawing.

ELG: Past and Present
Talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society.

ELG: People, Culture & Communities
Know similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities.

Key Stage 1 & 2 Overview

Developed from the National Curriculum & Projects on a Page

Stage / Cycle	Autumn	Spring	Summer
KS1 A (2026/27)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: Sketching	Food BRIEF: Design and make a healthy drink (smoothie) or snack (fruit kebab) for an adult we know.	Mechanisms BRIEF: Design and make a moving picture to illustrate a nursery rhyme for a book for nursery.
KS1 B (2027/28)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: Sketching	Structures BRIEF: Design and make a model of a new piece of playground equipment.	Textiles BRIEF: Design and make a puppet to retell a story for children in the FSU.
Lower KS2 A (2026/27)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: Drawing exploded diagrams and cross-sectional diagrams.	Food BRIEF: Design and make a salad dish for a specific Greek god, goddess, or hero.	Mechanisms / CAD BRIEF: Design and make an interactive museum exhibit or story character for visiting families.
Lower KS2 B (2027/28)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: Joining skills and basic CAD introduction (repeating shapes).	Textiles BRIEF: Design and make bedside storage for an object of choice to take away (Escot or Y3 Sleepover).	Electrical Products / CAD BRIEF: Design and make a light-up ‘mini book nook’ for the library to demarcate sections or authors.
Upper KS2 A (2026/27)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: CAD/CAM – free drawing	Mechanisms / Control BRIEF: Design and build a model of a push-along CAM toy to share with KS1 children.	Food BRIEF: Design and bake a culturally important savoury dish for the summer fayre.
Upper KS2 B (2027/28)	Designing / Materials Understanding Skill: Isometric Drawing / Joining Wood	Structures BRIEF: Design and make a model for an enrichment centre for the chickens.	Textiles / CAD BRIEF: Design and make a pillow to take on the London residential.

Ensuring Inclusive Practice

In addition to standard Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision, these specific adaptations ensure success for all in DT lessons.

Broad Area of Need	Specific Barriers	Planned Adaptations
Communication & Interaction	• Expressive language • Receptive language • Social communication	• Visual prompts, pre-teaching in quieter environments, video models to follow. • Front-loading expectations around mistakes/failures and visuals for frustration; breaks with trusted peers/adults. • Structured group activities to bridge empathy gaps and scaffold communication.
Cognition & Learning	• Working memory • Dyscalculia • Executive functioning • Dyslexia / Literacy • Aphantasia	• Visual prompts, written instructions, book-based recording to look forward/backward. • Pre-prepared gauges, digital scales, and balance scales. • Model and photograph approach for step tracking. • Visual prompts and well-established routines. • Opportunities to “design by doing” through physical modelling.
Sensory & Physical	• Visual Impairment (VI) • Hearing Impairment (HI) • Sensory Overload (Autism/SPD) • Fine Motor Coordination (Dyspraxia/DCD)	• Adaptive tools, tactile guides, enhanced lighting, self-threading needles, spring-loaded scissors. • Signed instructions or positioning for clear lip-reading. • Quiet workspaces, calm sections, noise-cancelling headphones, desk positioning, awareness of cooking smells. • Adaptive cutlery/tools, cutting skill practice, gross/fine motor work.
SEMH	• Anxiety and Perfectionism • Impulse Control	• Scaffold skills for managing failure; whiteboards for easy modifications. • Clear rules, increased adult presence/risk assessment, and movement/sensory regulation breaks.