Design & Technology Progression of Skills

Design and Technology Curriculum at Moulton Primary School

At Moulton we follow the CUSP curriculum for Design and Technology. The CUSP Design and Technology curriculum is organised into blocks with each block covering a particular set of disciplines, including food and nutrition, mechanisms, structures, systems, electrical systems, understanding materials and textiles. Vertical progression in each discipline has been deliberately woven into the fabric of the curriculum so that pupils revisit key disciplines throughout their Primary journey at increasing degrees of challenge and complexity.

In addition to the core knowledge required to be successful within each discipline, the curriculum outlines key aspects of development in the Working as a Designer section. Each module will focus on promoting different aspects of these competencies. This will support teachers in understanding pupils’ progress as designers more broadly, as well as how successfully they are acquiring the taught knowledge and skills.
Central to the learning modules are activities designed to develop pupils’ oracy and vocabulary skills to enable them to use the language associated with design and technology meaningfully when talking about their work and the work of others.

Prior learning is mapped into every learning module to show and remind teachers of the previous provision pupils may have encountered. This enables teachers to orchestrate meaningful retrieval and connect past learning. This has an added benefit of giving new learning an organised place to be stored in the memory, and therefore retrieved. In the long-term sequence, we have deliberately planned it so that each block of unit is based around a type of skill or technique. For example, structures is revisited in every year group and will build on the knowledge from the previous year.

Intention:
Design and Technology is a foundation subject at Moulton Primary School. Our intention is that Design and Technology teaching:

• Inspires children to experience awe and wonder. It stimulates curiosity, creativity and innovation.
• Instils a love of cooking and an understanding of a well balanced diet.
• Gives children the chance to learn through being hands-on and finding things out for themselves to gain a wider skill set.
• Is exciting and practical, encouraging future generations to improve their own life skills. It will deliver the knowledge and understanding that pupils need to fulfil their potential and ensures all can take advantage of opportunities presented in later life.
• Is planned and sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards clearly defined, ambitious end points e.g. How to sew a running stitch (Year 1) which will finally lead onto making fixtures and fastenings and attach these to fabric (Year 4).
• Addresses any gaps in pupils’ prior knowledge and skills so that all pupils can enjoy and achieve in Design and Technology regardless of any disadvantage or SEND.

Intentions translated into Classroom Implementation:
Design and Technology Knowledge and Skills:
Teachers at Moulton Primary School follow the National Curriculum for Design and Technology which builds skills and knowledge over time in a logical progression, systematically and explicitly so that all pupils acquire the intended knowledge and skills.

Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
Each block is revisited each year but with increasing difficulty and with a slightly different focus each time e.g. Mechanisms is studied every year, with a very clear progression of knowledge and understanding over the six years: In Year 1 this involves: designing and making a sliding product but by Year 6, this has developed into designing and making a model ferris wheel powered by gears.

The progression of skills in the Design and Technology curriculum will help children to become accurate, careful and confident creators. There is a clear progression of these skills e.g. in Year 1 a child is encouraged to peel, chop and grate vegetables but by Year 6, they will be able to combine and use these skills to dice, peel and cook a range of vegetables as well as make a sauce and a stock.