Design Technology

Subject managers: Emma Quinn & Emily Sutcliffe-Phillips.

Intent: Our Ethos

Design and Technology at Parkinson Lane CPS is underpinned by a clear, ambitious and inclusive intent that is coherently sequenced and designed to build powerful knowledge alongside creativity, technical competence and critical thinking. Our curriculum equips children with the knowledge, skills and vocabulary they need to become confident, reflective and responsible designers who can respond thoughtfully to real-world needs and challenges.

Pupils are taught to identify problems, explore existing products and systems, and design purposeful solutions through an iterative process of researching, designing, making, testing, evaluating and refining. This process develops resilience, independence, creativity and metacognition.

Through the subject, children develop an understanding of materials, structures, mechanisms, systems, digital technologies, nutrition and sustainability. They are supported to consider function, aesthetics, user needs, environmental impact and ethical responsibility, enabling them to become informed consumers and future innovators who can contribute positively to society.

Our curriculum actively promotes diversity and representation by exposing pupils to a wide range of designers, engineers, technologists and craft makers from different cultures, backgrounds and time periods. This builds cultural capital and ensures that all children can see themselves reflected in the designed world.

Design and Technology also contributes to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and supports preparation for life in modern Britain by fostering collaboration, responsibility, adaptability and creativity.

Implementation: What We Do

Our Design and Technology curriculum is carefully sequenced, cumulative and progressive from Early Years through to Year 6, informed by the National Curriculum and lower KS3 expectations. Knowledge and skills are revisited and deepened over time so that learning becomes secure, connected and transferable.

Each unit follows a consistent pedagogical structure:

Investigate → Design → Make → Evaluate → Refine, ensuring pupils understand that high-quality outcomes emerge through testing, reflection and improvement.

Quality First Teaching underpins all provision. This includes: 

• clear learning intentions and success criteria,
• explicit teaching and modelling of technical skills and vocabulary,
• scaffolded tasks with a gradual release of responsibility,
• retrieval practice and spaced revisiting of key concepts,
• purposeful questioning to probe understanding and promote higher-order thinking,
• timely, specific feedback that supports improvement.

Teachers use assessment for learning to identify misconceptions, adapt teaching responsively and ensure that all pupils are supported and challenged appropriately. Inclusion is built into planning so that adaptations are proactive rather than reactive.

Cross-curricular links with science, computing, mathematics, geography and PSHE are made explicit to strengthen conceptual understanding and real-world relevance.

Pupils explore the work of designers, engineers and technologists through books, digital sources, museums, galleries and real products, developing the ability to analyse, compare, critique and apply ideas to their own work.

Tracking and Monitoring Progress

Assessment in Design and Technology is continuous, formative and purposeful. Teachers assess pupils’ knowledge, understanding, skills and application against clearly defined progression criteria aligned with the National Curriculum.

Progress is monitored half-termly to ensure that pupils are building secure and cumulative understanding over time. Sketchbooks and design journals capture pupils’ thinking, experimentation, evaluation and development and are passed on to ensure continuity between year groups.

Pupils are taught to evaluate their own and others’ work constructively, developing reflective, metacognitive learners who can set targets and understand how to improve.

Provision for SEND Learners

The Design and Technology curriculum is inclusive and ambitious for all learners. SEND provision is embedded through Quality First Teaching strategies such as:

•

• chunked instructions and clear modelling,
• visual supports and key vocabulary prompts,
• adapted tools, materials and outcomes,
• • flexible grouping and adult support where appropriate,
• alternative methods of recording and presenting ideas.

Teachers use the progression framework to identify gaps, revisit prior learning and plan appropriate scaffolding and challenge. Specialist staff and technicians enhance access while maintaining high expectations for all pupils.

Provision for Gifted and Talented Learners

Pupils working at greater depth are challenged through increased complexity, independence and abstraction. They engage with open-ended briefs, extended investigations and iterative refinement of ideas and prototypes.

They are supported to think critically, justify decisions, evaluate trade-offs and innovate responsibly, demonstrating secure disciplinary understanding and originality.

Working at greater depth, pupils:

• analyse and critique existing designs with insight,
• innovate and adapt ideas independently,
• select and use materials strategically,
• test, refine and improve solutions systematically,
• articulate design thinking clearly,
• produce original, purposeful and well-executed outcomes.

Enrichment

At Parkinson Lane Community Primary School, first-hand experience is regarded as a core entitlement within the Design and Technology curriculum. We recognise that pupils develop a deeper and more meaningful understanding of design, engineering and technological processes when they engage directly with real products, designers, makers, engineers and creative environments. We therefore place significant importance on providing a broad, ambitious and carefully planned programme of enrichment opportunities.

Educational visits, visiting professionals, workshops, exhibitions, studios, factories, design centres and extracurricular clubs are systematically integrated into the curriculum to enhance pupils’ technical understanding, cultural capital and awareness of real-world application. These experiences enable pupils to connect classroom-based knowledge with authentic design practice and to understand how ideas move from concept to prototype to finished product.

Where possible, pupils are offered opportunities to participate in national and international visits, including trips abroad, in order to broaden cultural and technological horizons and to develop an understanding of the global nature of design, innovation and production. Such experiences support pupils in appreciating how different cultures, needs, resources and values shape design solutions across the world.

The school adopts a holistic view of design, recognising that Design and Technology is informed by and closely connected to the arts, architecture, digital media and visual culture. Pupils are supported to understand how aesthetics, creativity, cultural context and user experience influence functional design, and how artistic thinking enhances innovation, problem-solving and product development.

Through this ambitious programme of enrichment, the school aims to raise aspirations, deepen technical and creative understanding, and strengthen the relationship between school learning, industry, culture and future pathways within design, engineering and the creative and technological sectors.

Early Years

In Early Years, Design and Technology is embedded through continuous provision and purposeful play. Children explore materials, build, create, investigate and problem-solve.

Adults model language, techniques and thinking, enabling children to develop confidence, independence and curiosity. Children are encouraged to reflect on their work, adapt ideas and express preferences, laying strong foundations for later technical and design learning.

Digital platforms are used purposefully to support research, modelling, retrieval and reflection. Remote and blended learning is accessible, structured and inclusive, ensuring continuity and equity of provision.

Digital literacy is developed progressively so that pupils can use technology safely, responsibly and effectively to support learning in Design and Technology and across the wider curriculum.