Aims

• The national curriculum for design and technology aims to ensure that all 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
• 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 Stage 1

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts (for example, the home and school, gardens and playgrounds, the local community, industry and the wider environment).

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

• design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology

Make

• select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing)
• select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics

Evaluate

• explore and evaluate a range of existing products
• evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria

Technical knowledge

• build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable
• explore and use mechanisms (for example, levers, sliders, wheels and axles), in their products.

Key Stage 2

Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils should be taught the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making. They should work in a range of relevant contexts (for example, the home, school, leisure, culture, enterprise, industry and the wider environment).

When designing and making, pupils should be taught to:

Design

• use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups
• generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design

Make

• select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing), accurately
• select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities

Evaluate

• investigate and analyse a range of existing products
• evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work
• understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world

Technical knowledge

• apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures
• understand and use mechanical systems in their products (for example, gears, pulleys, cams, levers and linkages) 
• understand and use electrical systems in their products (for example, series circuits incorporating switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors) 
• apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.

Scheme of Work: Kapow - Design & Technology

DT - Programmes of Study for KS1 and KS2