Intent - Why do we teach what we teach? 

At Knowle, we aim to encourage a love of design and technology for all children and for all children to understand the role design technology plays in the wider world. Design and technology is about designing and making a final product for somebody and for a specific purpose. During lessons, many core values will be practised, such as persistence, resilience, team work and problem-solving. Design technology lessons teach children new practical skills as well as the skills of being able to modify and adapt their designs and ideas. 

Implementation - What do we teach and when? 

D&T is taught in 6-lesson units, once a term (D&T alternates with Art). The United Curriculum is sequenced so that meaningful links are made between subjects, and the order of units allows these connections to be made.

The implementation of the United Curriculum for Design & Technology reflects our broader teaching and learning principles:
For Design & Technology in particular:
•Content is always carefully situated within existing schemas. Every unit considers the prior knowledge that is prerequisite for that unit and builds on that knowledge to develop a deeper understanding of that concept.
•Vertical concepts are used within lessons to connect aspects of learning.
•Disciplinary knowledge is explicitly taught to pupils and carefully sequenced to ensure pupils are provided with opportunities to practice these skills throughout the curriculum. 
•Opportunities for extended, scholarly writing appear throughout the curriculum. These have a clear purpose and audience and, crucially, allow pupils to write as a technologist.

Early Years
In the Early Years, Design and Technology is taught through the area of Expressive Arts and Design. This is split into two aspects:

1)Creating with materials
2)Being imaginative and expressive

These two areas of learning overlap and feed into each other.  EAD is an important outlet for imagination, thoughts and ideas, but in addition, EAD links with many other areas of the curriculum in beneficial ways.

In the very early stages of their learning journeys, our children have daily opportunities to explore and experiment with a wide range of media and materials. We support and encourage them to be creative, and experiment with different resources to create outcomes of their own choice. We directly teach children the skills and techniques that they need, so that they can then independently use these in their own creations. We foster the love of the creative arts and value our children’s work.