Design & Technology
Subject Statement
Who is it for? What must it do? How will we know if it works?
At Sikh Heritage Girls School, Design & Technology teaches girls to turn ideas into purposeful solutions.
A successful product is not simply something that looks attractive. It has a user, a purpose and a problem to solve. Pupils learn to investigate existing products, understand how they work, develop and communicate ideas, select appropriate materials and tools, make with increasing accuracy, test what they have created and improve it.
Our curriculum is designed in-house and rooted in the National Curriculum. Practical work is underpinned by technical knowledge so that girls understand not only how to make something, but why particular structures, mechanisms, materials and systems work.
As pupils move through SHGS, we expect greater precision, independence and judgement. The first idea is rarely treated as the final answer. Designing involves investigating, making decisions, testing and being willing to change something when it does not work as intended.
Intent
Our curriculum develops designing, making, technical knowledge and evaluation together.
Girls learn to identify a user and purpose, investigate how existing products solve similar problems and develop clear criteria for their own designs. They communicate ideas through discussion, drawings, models and prototypes before selecting tools, materials and construction methods appropriate to the task.
Technical knowledge builds progressively through work with structures, mechanisms and mechanical systems, textiles, materials, electrical systems and programmable control. Pupils also develop practical knowledge through cooking and nutrition, using ingredients, utensils and equipment with increasing safety and independence. The fuller progression for this substantial strand is set out on our dedicated Cooking & Nutrition curriculum page.
Sustainability is approached as a genuine design consideration. Girls begin to think about material use, waste, durability, repair and reuse, recognising that designers often need to balance several priorities at once.
Creativity matters, but creativity in D&T has a purpose. Pupils are expected to make choices, solve practical problems and explain why one solution may work better than another.
Implementation
Foundations in EYFS
Design thinking begins in Reception through purposeful construction, exploration and plenty of junk modelling.
Boxes, tubes, lids, fabric, card, natural materials and other open-ended resources give children opportunities to choose, combine, join and transform materials for their own purposes. A box might become a vehicle, building or invention, but the important learning lies in the decisions children make as they work.
They begin to discover that materials behave differently, some joins are stronger than others and a structure may need changing if it will not stand or perform its intended job. Adults introduce useful vocabulary and model safe techniques while protecting the freedom children need to experiment and develop their own ideas.
These early experiences establish habits that later become more formal design thinking: choosing, making, testing, explaining and changing.
Investigating, designing and making
From Year 1 onwards, substantial projects begin with a user, purpose or design problem rather than an instruction simply to make an object.
Before creating their own solution, girls examine existing products. They consider who they are for, what they need to do, how they have been constructed, why particular materials have been selected and how well they perform their intended function. As pupils mature, they become more critical, considering what might be changed or improved.
Ideas are developed and communicated in ways appropriate to the task. Younger pupils may talk, draw and make simple models. Older girls use annotated sketches, prototypes, templates, pattern pieces and more detailed plans where these help them think through a solution.
Making becomes progressively more precise. Pupils learn to measure, mark out, cut, shape, join, assemble and finish using an increasingly wide range of tools and techniques. Material choice also becomes more considered as girls learn to think about strength, flexibility, weight, durability, appearance and other properties relevant to the design.
By the upper years, pupils should increasingly be deciding for themselves which tools, materials and construction methods are appropriate and be able to explain those decisions.
Building technical knowledge
Practical confidence is supported by knowledge of how designed products work.
Girls learn how structures can be strengthened and stabilised; how levers, sliders, wheels, axles, gears, pulleys, cams and linkages can create or change movement; how textiles and other materials can be joined and shaped; and how electrical components can be incorporated into functioning products.
As pupils progress, computing can also be applied to program, monitor and control products, allowing girls to combine knowledge from different subjects in a purposeful design context.
Mathematics, science, computing and art all contribute naturally to D&T, but the subject retains its own identity. The purpose is to draw on relevant knowledge in order to design and make something that works successfully for its intended user.
Testing, evaluating and improving
Evaluation happens throughout the design process.
Pupils test their ideas and products against the criteria established at the beginning of a project. They consider whether something functions as intended, whether it meets the needs of its user and what might need to change.
A beautifully finished product that does not solve the design problem is not automatically a successful design.
Girls learn that something going wrong can provide useful information. A weak structure, awkward fastening or unreliable mechanism gives the designer something specific to investigate and improve. As pupils mature, they take greater responsibility for identifying weaknesses, considering user feedback and refining their work.
Forest School and outdoor learning can provide authentic contexts for this thinking, particularly when pupils encounter problems involving structures, stability, joining and the suitability of different materials.
Girls also encounter the work of designers, engineers, inventors and makers, helping them understand how designed products develop and how thoughtful design can influence everyday life.
Ambition for every pupil
Every girl undertakes genuine designing and making.
Where additional support is required, teachers may adapt tools, modelling, recording or the steps within a practical process while retaining the same design purpose and technical ambition.
By the upper years, pupils are expected to take increasing ownership of the design process: investigating a problem, developing possible solutions, making informed choices, working with greater accuracy and responding independently when something does not initially work.
Assessment
Assessment considers both what pupils know and how well they can apply that knowledge.
Teachers consider how effectively pupils understand the user and purpose, investigate existing products, generate and communicate ideas, select tools and materials, make accurately and evaluate their work against clear criteria.
The finished product matters, but it is not the only evidence of successful learning. The quality of pupils' decisions, the way they respond to problems and their ability to explain and improve a design are equally important.
Impact
By the time girls leave SHGS, we want them to understand that the designed world around them is the result of human decisions, technical knowledge and repeated problem-solving.
They should be able to examine a product and consider how and why it works, develop their own response to a genuine design problem and select appropriate tools, materials and techniques to make it.
They should make with increasing accuracy, test rather than assume, and be prepared to modify an idea when evidence shows that it can be improved.
Most importantly, we want girls to see themselves as people who can understand how things work and who have the practical and intellectual confidence to design something better.
Research-Informed Practice
Our curriculum reflects the National Curriculum's definition of Design & Technology as a rigorous and practical subject in which pupils design and make purposeful, functional products for real users.
The Design & Technology Association's Progression Framework also informs our approach. It emphasises progression across designing, making, evaluating and technical knowledge, with pupils gradually taking more responsibility for decisions about users, materials, tools, construction and function.
Our EYFS foundations complement this progression by giving young children frequent opportunities to explore materials, construction, joining and form through open-ended practical experiences.
Selected References
Department for Education. National Curriculum in England: Design and Technology Programmes of Study.
Design & Technology Association. Design and Technology Progression Framework.
Department for Education. Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework.
