Intent statement

At Primet Primary, Design and Technology is taught through creative, practical and purposeful learning experiences. Our intent is to equip children with the knowledge, skills and resilience needed to work through an iterative design process, researching, planning, making, testing and refining their ideas. We spark curiosity by exploring and evaluating existing products, helping pupils understand how design solves real-life problems and improves the world around us. Through hands-on projects across structures, mechanisms, textiles, food technology and electrical systems, children develop imagination, critical thinking and entrepreneurial skills. Our curriculum empowers pupils to take risks, apply skills from across the curriculum, and confidently create high-quality products with real purpose and function.

Implementation

Design and Technology is delivered through a carefully sequenced curriculum from EYFS to Year 6, ensuring pupils build strong foundations before moving on to increasingly complex design challenges. Each unit follows the full design cycle: investigate, design, make and evaluate, with children working independently and collaboratively to solve meaningful problems.

Across the school, pupils develop a broad range of technical skills:

• Mechanisms such as levers, sliders, wheels, axles, linkages, cams, pulleys and gears

• Structures including stability, strength, frames and shell structures

• Textiles involving templates, stitches, joining techniques and fabric construction

• Food technology focusing on nutrition, hygiene, preparation and cooking skills

• Electrical systems including circuits, components and simple control technology

Units are linked to wider curriculum themes to strengthen understanding and relevance for example, pop-up cards in Year 1, moon buggies in Year 2, windmills and electrical systems in Year 4, and mechanical cams in Year 5. Teachers model technical vocabulary and skills explicitly, ensuring children understand how and why products are made.

Throughout each project, pupils test ideas, refine their work and evaluate both prototypes and final products. This iterative approach builds resilience, problem-solving skills and creativity. By the end of Key Stage 2, children are confident designers and makers, able to apply knowledge from science, maths and art to produce thoughtful, well-constructed, purpose-driven products.