St Mary’s Design Technology Rationale

“We don’t simply think outside of the box, we ask what can be done with the box?”

At St. Mary’s, our Design Technology curriculum encourages children to embrace failure as a friend in their pursuit for success. We nurture our children to become creative and calculated risk-takers, forever probing for knowledge about the fast-paced and constantly evolving world we live in.

Our children are encouraged to delve into the lives of significant designers, exploring their achievements and asking questions about their inventions. They are supported in their process of practising skills, designing and creating, with evaluation being at the heart of every project. Our curriculum allows children to create with a purpose, taking risks with their design process within the comfort and safety of well-structured lessons.

 

Design Technology Whole School Curriculum Overview

 

Autumn 1 

Autumn 2 

Spring 1 

Spring 2  

Summer 1

Summer 2

EYFS

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Evidenced within continuous provision 

Year 1 

Mechanisms

Slides and levers 

 


 
 

 

Food



 

Structures: Free Standing structures



 

 

Year 2 

 

 

Textiles and 

Joining techniques



 
   

 

Mechanisms

Wheels and Axles


 

Year 3

 

Structures- Shell Structures (CAD)


 





 

 

Mechanisms 

Levers and linkage 



 
   

Food 

Year 4 

Mechanisms 

Pneumatics 


 
 

Textiles 

2d shape to 3d product 


 


 

Electrical Systems –Simple circuit and switches






 

Year 5 

Mechanical systems Pulley and Gears 




 

 

Textiles- Combining different fabric shapes


 

 

Food- celebrating culture and seasonality 


 

 



 

Year 6



 

Free Standing Structures


 


 

 


 
 

Electrical system monitoring and control 




 


 

Year 2 Design Technology Planning Example - Textiles: Puppets

To view the full document please click on the document link below.

Click to Download Year 2 Design Technology Example of Planning - Textiles - Puppets [pdf 112KB] Click to Download

Progression of Skills

Year 2 Puppets

Year 2 Fruit Kebabs

Year 5 Pulley Mechanism 

Y5 practising using their own pulley mechanism in DT.

Year 6 Bird Hides

Year 6 have designed, created and evaluated their own small-scale version of a bird hide in DT. They practised skills first and then used these skills to create the initial structure before covering with material.

Year 4 Sewing Aprons

Sewing an apron.