At St Mary's, we believe that design and technology prepares children to take part in the development of tomorrow’s rapidly changing world.  Creative thinking encourages children to make positive changes to their quality of life and through understanding key design/technological events that have shaped the world, our curriculum develops children's ability to see the impact this subject has on the lives of everyday people. In addition, through studying key people who have contributed to shaping the world in which we live through their innovations, our pupils develop an understanding of how they could one day contribute to the field of design and technology.

The aim of our D&T curriculum is to:

• provide opportunities to investigate how different structures and mechanisms work.
• experiment with different techniques to create stable structures and construct 
• enable pupils to develop an understanding of where their food comes from and also how to follow a recipe to prepare some savoury dishes.
• understand how computer aided design is used by designers in their products.
• encourage children to become autonomous and creative problem solvers, both as individuals and as part of a team.
• allow them to identify needs and opportunities for creating products to address a design brief.
• develop ideas and eventually make products and systems for a clear purpose.

Through the study of design and technology they combine practical skills with an understanding of aesthetic, social and environmental issues, as well as functions and industrial practices. This allows them to reflect on and evaluate present and past design and technology, its uses and its impacts.  Design and technology helps all children to become discriminating and informed consumers and potential innovators. Below is a copy of our D&T curriculum overview, which sets out the core aspects of our approach and outlines the key learning undertaken in each project across each year group.