Design & Technology at Longlands Primary School

EYFS to Year 6

At Longlands, pupils learn to think like designers and engineers.

They identify needs, generate ideas, make purposeful products, test how well they work and improve them through thoughtful evaluation.

Intent

Our Design and Technology curriculum develops creative, practical and technically knowledgeable pupils who can respond to real and relevant problems. Using Kapow Primary, children follow an ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum built around four connected strands: Design, Make, Evaluate and Technical Knowledge.

Pupils design and make products for users and purposes, becoming increasingly confident in selecting tools, materials, components and processes. They build knowledge of structures, mechanisms and mechanical systems, textiles, electrical systems, digital products, and cooking and nutrition. They learn that successful design balances function, appearance, user need, safety and, where appropriate, sustainability.

D&T brings the Longlands values to life. Creativity is seen in original solutions; Excellence in accurate making and refinement; Empathy in designing for users; Integrity in safe working and honest evaluation; and Equality in ambitious, inclusive participation and consideration of different users and needs.

Implementation

Kapow Primary provides a coherent journey from exploratory design and making in EYFS to increasingly complex and independent projects in Key Stage 2. Knowledge and techniques are revisited in new contexts so that pupils remember more, connect prior learning and apply it with increasing precision.

• Each project follows a purposeful design process: investigate and research, design, make, test, evaluate and improve.
• Pupils respond to a clear user, purpose and design brief, with increasing attention to design criteria, constraints and target audiences.
• Teachers explicitly model safe and accurate use of tools, materials, equipment and components before pupils apply techniques independently.
• Technical vocabulary is taught and revisited, enabling pupils to explain mechanisms, structures, circuits, textiles, food processes and digital systems precisely.
• Cooking and nutrition develops safe food preparation, understanding of healthy and varied diets, seasonality and where food comes from.
• Digital and electrical projects enable pupils to apply computing and science knowledge within purposeful product design.
• Adaptive teaching uses clear modelling, visual instructions, accessible tools, structured steps and additional practice while retaining the same ambitious curriculum goals.
• Assessment is formative and ongoing through questioning, observation, design work, practical outcomes, testing and evaluation against design criteria.

Impact

By the end of Year 6, pupils can approach a design problem with increasing independence. They research users and existing products, develop and communicate ideas, select appropriate tools and materials, make with growing accuracy, and test and refine products against clear criteria. They can explain how technical systems work and apply this knowledge within functional products.

Progress is evident in pupils’ design decisions, technical vocabulary, practical control, evaluation and ability to transfer prior knowledge to unfamiliar problems. Pupils understand that effective design rarely happens at the first attempt: designers test, learn, adapt and improve.

Pupils leave Longlands as resourceful, safety-conscious and reflective problem-solvers, ready to contribute ideas to a changing world.