At Northside Primary School we aim to prepare children for participation in tomorrow’s rapidly changing technologies.  Design and Technology at Northside will provide children with the tools to deal with problems they meet in everyday life. 

We provide a balanced programme for Design and Technology, children have experiences involving structures, mechanisms, food technology, materials /textiles, electronics and computing.

Design and Technology at Northside will be relevant to children’s understanding and promote thinking around issues such as target audience, marketing and usefulness. We follow the National Curriculum objectives to ensure full coverage and appropriate progression of skills which are mechanisms, electronics, structures, food and textiles.

Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage will:

• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Share their creations, explaining the process they used.
• Use materials and props in imaginative play and role‑play scenarios.

Children in Key Stage 1 and 2 will be taught:

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 (for example, cutting, shaping, joining and finishing)
• 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
• Understand and use electrical systems (KS2) (switches, series circuits, bulbs, motors, buzzers).

Cooking and nutrition

As part of their work with food, children in all key stages will learn how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating.

In Key Stage 1 children will be taught to:

• Use the basic principles of a healthy, varied diet to prepare simple dishes.
• Understand where food comes from (farm to fork).

In Key Stage 2 children will be taught to:

• Understand and apply principles of a healthy, varied diet.

• Prepare and cook predominantly savoury dishes using a range of techniques.
• Understand seasonality and where/how ingredients are grown, reared, caught or processed.