Swiss Gardens Primary School

At Swiss Gardens Primary School we value Design Technology as an important part of the children’s entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum, teaching it throughout the year alongside Art and Design. Our learning is linked to our topics as well as cross curricular themes, we aim to link work to other subjects such as mathematics, science, engineering, computing and art to help children make connections, aid their retention and support their learning. Key skills and key knowledge for Design and Technology are mapped across the school to ensure progression between year groups.

 Design and Technology should be an inspiring, relevant and practical subject. We encourages children to learn to think and innovate to solve problems both as individuals and as members of a team. Through a process of researching, designing, making and evaluating children have the opportunity to create purposeful and functional products considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values to fulfil a design brief. Through well considered contexts children are enabled to select and use a wide variety of tools and materials for example cutting, shaping a joining using construction materials, textiles and ingredients. Children have opportunities to explore and evaluate existing products and design processes and use these to shape their own designs as well as evaluating their own and each other’s work. Children develop technical knowledge including how to strengthen designs, include mechanical systems and apply their understanding of computing to program and control designs. Alongside our Science curriculum they also explore ways to process food and the nutritional qualities of products.