Design & Technology

EYFS: Pupils begin to develop their art and design awareness through a wide range of media and materials.

In the Early Years and Foundation Stage, children study D.T through the overarching concept, 'Expressive arts and design'. By giving children a range of experiences, we aim to help them develop and support their imagination and creativity. Children are given regular opportunities to engage with design and technology, which helps them to make sense of the world around them whilst increasing their knowledge and understanding of construction and materials through child led experiences, such as: an accessible, ever changing 'creative area', manipulating and playing with different materials, making simple models (junk modelling) to express ideas, join materials and explore different textures and the opportunity to participate in cookery activities such as making soup linked to the class text 'Pumpkin Soup'. Children's vocabulary is enriched through careful and progressive planning, including a wide range of stories, rhymes and songs.

KS1: Pupils begin to develop the skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making.

In Key Stage One, children begin to develop skills and knowledge associated with textiles, cooking and structures through working with a range of materials and equipment such as modelling dough, felt, children's needles, cardboard, manual juicers, table knives and chopping boards. Cross curricular opportunities are embedded in the KS1 D.T curriculum, for instance in Year 1 the PSHE topic 'Healthy eating' is further explored in the 'cooking and nutrition' unit by tasting a range of fruits, preparing and making a fruit smoothie. Children learn skills and techniques such as following a clear, design criteria, following instructions to achieve a desired outcome, creating joints and structures, chopping foods safely and tasting and evaluating different food combinations. Within the textile unit, children will develop the skills of designing a product, cutting fabrics, using joining methods such as sewing, gluing and pinning.

KS2: Pupils further develop the skills needed to engage in an iterative process of designing and making.

In Key Stage Two, children continue to build and enhance their knowledge and skills learnt in EYFS and KS1 D.T associated with structures, textiles and cooking through working with a range of materials and continue developing skills with equipment they were introduced to in KS1 (children's needles, felt, card, tape and chopping boards). To progress further, children will have the opportunity to understand more complex processes and gain new skills using new materials and equipment such as vegetable knives, needles, fastenings, plasticine, peelers, coping saw with vices and digital devices. Cross curricular opportunities are embedded in the KS2 art curriculum, for instance in Year 3 the history topic 'Ancient Egypt' is further explored by using cross stitch and appliqué to design and make Egyptian collars like those they wore in the past. Children learn skills and techniques such as following instructions within a recipe, peeling ingredients safely, selecting stitch styles to join fabrics and improving designs after peer evaluation and feedback, whilst still implementing those learnt in KS1.