Through a variety of creative and practical activities, pupils have the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to engage in designing and making. Pupils in Leigham work through a range of contexts such as things that we use in home and school; enterprise projects; designing and making items that will aid the wider community and looking at Design and technology industries.

Key Stage 1

Our KS1 curriculum aims to enable the children to:

Design

•  design purposeful, functional, appealing products for themselves and other users based on design criteria.
•  generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through talking, drawing, templates, mock-ups and, where appropriate, information and communication technology.

Make

•  select from and use a range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks.
•  select from and use a wide range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their characteristics.

Evaluate

•  explore and evaluate a range of existing products
•  evaluate their ideas and products against design criteria

Technical knowledge

•  build structures, exploring how they can be made stronger, stiffer and more stable.
•  explore and use mechanisms [for example, levers, sliders, wheels and axles], in their products.

Key stage 2

Our KS2 curriculum aims to enable the children to:

Design

•  use research and develop design criteria to inform the design of innovative, functional, appealing products that are fit for purpose, aimed at particular individuals or groups.
•  generate, develop, model and communicate their ideas through discussion, annotated sketches, cross-sectional and exploded diagrams, prototypes, pattern pieces and computer-aided design.

Make

•  select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment to perform practical tasks [for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing], accurately.
•  select from and use a wider range of materials and components, including construction materials, textiles and ingredients, according to their functional properties and aesthetic qualities.

Evaluate

•  investigate and analyse a range of existing products
•  evaluate their ideas and products against their own design criteria and consider the views of others to improve their work.
•  understand how key events and individuals in design and technology have helped shape the world.

Technical knowledge

•  apply their understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce more complex structures.
•  understand and use mechanical systems in their products.
•  understand and use electrical systems in their products.
•  apply their understanding of computing to program, monitor and control their products.