Design and Technology

Intent:

Our Nottingham Academy Design & Technology (D&T) curriculum is designed to inspire innovative thinkers and confident problem solvers, equipping pupils with the creativity and skills needed for the future. Through hands-on collaborative projects, students will design, create, and evaluate products by responding to structured design briefs and design criteria. The curriculum offers a clear progression of skills and knowledge, ensuring continuous development as students advance through each key stage. The curriculum is designed to ensure that children can apply knowledge from other subjects within a D&T context, including mathematical concepts such as measurement, geometry, and proportion, along with scientific principles related to materials, forces, and electricity, to support design and product functionality. Through a well-designed curriculum, students build on prior learning, progressing from simple construction techniques and basic design understanding to more complex problem-solving, use of tools, and advanced design thinking. We aim for children to think, talk and write like designers as they research, develop technical knowledge, collaborate, ask questions, communicate, and develop the ability to adapt, refine and improve their designs through effective evaluation and reflection. Ultimately, we want to develop students’ problem-solving abilities and resilience to adapt to an ever-changing world, equipping them with the skills to tackle real-world problems. 

Implementation:

Curriculum design:

Through our well sequenced curriculum, children learn and build on a range of knowledge and skills in the key areas of:

• Construction 
• Mechanisms
• Food and Nutrition
• Textiles
• Electrical systems  

Substantive and disciplinary knowledge

Substantive knowledge in design and technology is based on the knowledge of four key elements of the process of design (design, make, evaluate and technical knowledge). All of these elements will be taught from nursery to Year 6 and vocabulary is taught explicitly and will be deliberately practised and applied through the 4 key elements.

Disciplinary knowledge in design and technology is the process of enabling children to use their substantive knowledge of products and materials around them to make links between and across different areas of the curriculum. Disciplinary knowledge in design and technology will equip the children with the opportunity to think and talk like designers. 

Both substantive and disciplinary knowledge are detailed on our school progression documents. Teachers use this document to plan a well sequenced unit of work. 

Sequence of learning:

As with all of our non-core subjects, teachers plan a sequence of learning following the structure below:

•     LINK IT!  Using our school progression documents, teachers consider links to prior learning in order for children to build on what they already know.

            LEARN IT!  Teachers plan and deliver engaging and meaningful learning opportunities with explicit teacher modelling, opportunities for children to think and talk like a designer, practice a range of technical skills, collaborate and become creative problem solvers. 

           CHECK IT! Teachers plan for opportunities to review and check learning each lesson to ensure adaptations can be made to the next lesson. 

           SHOW IT! At the end of a unit of work, children will have produced a product that matches the design brief by applying the skills they have been taught within the unit. 

         KNOW IT! Children will critically evaluate their products and will have an opportunity to demonstrate the learning they have retained. 

• The National Curriculum and GAT Early Years progression framework have informed the development of our detailed progression documents.
• D&T topics are linked to a theme or topic in another area of the curriculum. For example, our year 4 children design and make an Iron man structure with an electrical system. This links English and science electricity unit to the D&T project, with an opportunity for children to apply what they have learnt within a design context. 
• The understanding of technical knowledge has been carefully sequenced to build year-on-year. This is clearly outlined in our Sticky Knowledge documents.
• Units of work are sequenced to allow children to research, design, build an understanding of technical knowledge, make and evaluate their work. 
• Our bespoke D&T project booklets provide a clear structure the unit of work and allow children to showcase their learning journey. 
• Our Sticky Knowledge for D&T outlines the key knowledge that we want our children to know and remember from each unit of work. This incorporates key vocabulary, technical knowledge, key questions and considerations for making and evaluating products.

• In EYFS, the children have daily access to a variety of media and materials which they can explore to produce their own D&T creative work. Provision is carefully planned to suit the interests of the children, whilst developing the necessary foundation skills. Through on-going observations of the children, the adults have an in-depth knowledge about each child’s development. This ensures that the adults facilitating learning know each child’s next steps and can give the children the learning opportunity and experience they need to develop their D&T skills.

• Our Primary D&T zone is developing, which celebrates exceptional products produced across school and showcases the emerging talent of our Primary designers. 

• Parents are invited to our regular curriculum showcase events, which feature the 'show it' pieces of work from year groups linked to their current learning - many of which are linked to D&T.

Whole school Design and Technology Projects:

Children and staff enjoyed a whole school Design and Technology week with a theme of Euros 2024. Each cohort was given a design brief linked to football with criteria which included the use of a mechanism. Each year group explored existing products, conducted market research and engaged in practical tasks to allow them to gain knowledge of their specific mechanism. They worked individually and collaboratively to design a product which met their design brief and then worked hard to bring it to life, adapting and evaluating their design along the way. At the end of the week, we held a whole school showcase event which celebrated our exceptional design and technology work with parents. 

  Children in EYFS worked hard to make some super moving football players using a simple split pin mechanism. Whilst children in year 1 designed and made a good luck cards for the England team using a sliding mechanism. 

Children in year 2 made open-top tour buses incorporating wheel and axle mechanisms. Whist children in year 3 tackled the complex levers and linkages mechanism to create moving banners for an England supporter to take to a game.

 

Children in year 4 designed and made a tabletop penalty shoot out game which incorporated a catapult mechanism. Whilst children in year 5 made some exceptional table football games which included an axle mechanism and lots of construction elements. 

  Finally, year 6 designed and made their own football stadiums which included some exceptional construction work and also incorporated their knowledge of circuits by including a light up element in their design. 

Impact

• Pupil voice shows that pupils enjoy D&T and that they can talk about the knowledge and skills they have acquired. 
• Children enjoy showcasing their work to parents and take pride in the quality of work they have produced.
• Children are able to think, talk and write like designers through the scaffold of project booklets.
• Through a well sequenced D&T curriculum, where children experience a variety of creative and practical activities built on a foundation of progressive skills and knowledge, our children develop their creativity and innovative thinking.
• Our progressive curriculum provides opportunities for our children to develop passions and interests in the creative, technical and practical expertise needed to design, make and evaluate effectively.
• Our children leave Nottingham Academy primary equipped with the skills and passion for an ever increasingly technological world and for them to greet it with confidence and enthusiasm.