Design Technology (DT)

Design Technology is an imaginative, relevant and challenging subject. Equipped with developing practical skills and knowledge, children take inspiration from the wider world to design and innovate, create and evaluate. Design and Technology gives children an opportunity to understand how they have the ability to make a positive contribution to the world, both now and in the future. We want our pupils to start by being inspired by the familiar around them and become curious about the unknown wider world.

The Design Technology curriculum at Bannerman Road aims to develop children’s skills and knowledge in design, structures, mechanisms and electrical control and to equip children with the technical skills to work with a range of materials, including food. Our DT curriculum places great emphasis on the learning skills required to solve problems through creative thinking, collaboration and resilience.

Our DT curriculum starts in Early Years, where pupils learn to use simple tools and resources safely. Children use construction materials to build both following a model and imaginatively. Pupils use construction kits and materials, a range of paper, card and junk materials as well as larger loose parts outside. The high-quality provision that underpins our Early Years setting allows great opportunities for the children to develop their knowledge and understanding of the World around them.

Our DT curriculum for Years 1-6 is delivered through focused blocks which each have a progression of substantive and disciplinary knowledge. Pupils are immersed in the language of the enquiry by being taught important vocabulary for each unit. Pupils are encouraged to communicate their learning in different ways; we aim to enrich their oracy skills using sentence stems relevant to the skills and knowledge being taught. Children are given the opportunity to explore existing artefacts, evaluating their usefulness and appeal to the user and their suitability for their purpose. Pupils then practise the skills required to replicate the techniques and mechanisms, building their technical knowledge and practical skills. This allows pupils to begin to design and make “something, for somebody, for a purpose.” They are then able to evaluate their product with this in mind.

In Key Stage 2, pupils learn about engineers in different fields of engineering. Our intention is for all our pupils to see themselves as engineers and recognise their place in the world. We also value the importance of giving children opportunities to reflect upon and evaluate past and present design technology, its uses and its effectiveness and encourage them to become innovators, risk-takers and reflective learners, taking an active and responsible role in the world. Wherever possible, we aim to link work to other disciplines such as Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art. We want our pupils to leave Bannerman Road having gained DT knowledge and practical skills that they can use throughout the rest of their lives.