We are Designers!

"Design is not what it looks like and feels like.  Design is how it works."

Steve Jobs

 

Our Aim

At St Augustine’s, we aim to provide a rich, engaging and inclusive Design and Technology curriculum that inspires children to become creative thinkers, innovative designers and effective problem-solvers. Through practical experiences, pupils learn to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems while developing resilience, independence and confidence.

Design and Technology prepares children for life in an ever-changing technological world. It encourages pupils to use creativity, imagination and critical thinking to investigate, design, make and evaluate products. Our curriculum reflects the world around us and helps children understand how design and technology shape our culture, society and everyday lives.

We want all children to develop the technical knowledge, practical expertise and design skills needed to perform everyday tasks confidently and participate successfully in an increasingly technological world. Through the design process, pupils learn to take risks, be reflective, innovative and enterprising, making improvements and adaptations as they develop their ideas.

 

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Implementation

As a school within the Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, we deliver a carefully sequenced and progressive Design and Technology curriculum developed by subject specialists and supported through the Kapow scheme of learning. Design and Technology is taught at least once each term across all year groups.

This ensures that:

  • Skills and knowledge are clearly mapped from Early Years to the end of Key Stage 3.
  • Learning builds progressively on prior knowledge and experiences.
  • Clear end points for skill development are identified.
  • Pupils develop both practical capability and technical understanding.

Design and Technology is interwoven with other curriculum subjects, providing meaningful contexts for learning. Children regularly apply skills from Mathematics, Science, Computing and English within their Design and Technology projects.

In the Early Years, the foundations of Design and Technology are developed through practical, exploratory and play-based experiences across all areas of learning. Children investigate materials, construct models, solve problems and develop creativity through purposeful activities.

Our progression of skills fully covers:

  • The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage
  • The National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 and 2

Skills Progression

Our Design and Technology curriculum is structured around five key strands:

  • Design Process – designing, making and evaluating products.
  • Resistant Materials – working with materials to construct and strengthen products.
  • Food and Nutrition – developing cooking skills and understanding healthy lifestyles.
  • Textiles – learning sewing, joining and decorative techniques.
  • Products and Designers – exploring influential designers, inventors and engineers.

Each strand builds progressively on prior learning, develops key vocabulary and provides opportunities for practical application, ensuring children know more, remember more and do more as they move through the school. Skills may be taught through topic-based, skills-based or blended approaches to ensure meaningful learning and effective progression.

Designers and Career Links

The study of designers, inventors and engineers is embedded throughout the curriculum. Children explore the work of local, British and international figures who have influenced the designed world around us.

Each unit includes explicit career links, helping pupils understand how Design and Technology is used in real-life contexts and future employment opportunities. Pupils learn about careers including:

  • Product Designer
  • Engineer
  • Architect
  • Textile Designer
  • Chef and Food Technologist
  • Industrial Designer
  • Construction and Manufacturing Professionals

This helps to build cultural capital, raise aspirations and demonstrate the relevance of Design and Technology beyond the classroom.

Developing Knowledge and Skills

Throughout their Design and Technology education at St Augustine’s, children are encouraged to:

  • Think creatively and solve problems independently.
  • Work collaboratively and respectfully with others.
  • Take risks and learn from mistakes.
  • Develop resilience when testing and improving products.
  • Use tools, equipment and materials safely and effectively.
  • Consider environmental and ethical issues when designing.
  • Evaluate existing products and their own work critically.
  • Apply knowledge from other curriculum areas in practical situations.

Through regular opportunities to design, make and evaluate, pupils develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of materials, structures, mechanisms and systems. Assessment is ongoing throughout each unit and teachers use progression criteria to monitor attainment and identify next steps in learning.

Impact

By the time pupils leave St Augustine’s, they will have developed a positive attitude towards learning and a secure understanding of the design process. They will be creative, imaginative and resilient learners who can work independently and collaboratively to solve problems.

Children will:

  • Demonstrate confidence when designing and making products.
  • Apply technical knowledge and practical skills effectively.
  • Work safely, responsibly and ethically.
  • Evaluate products critically and suggest improvements.
  • Use subject-specific vocabulary accurately.
  • Show resilience when refining and improving their work.
  • Understand how Design and Technology impacts everyday life and the wider world.
  • Appreciate the contribution of designers, engineers and inventors to society.

Pupils leave St Augustine’s with a strong foundation of Design and Technology knowledge and skills, ready to build upon this learning in Key Stage 3 and equipped to thrive in an increasingly technological world.