Our Intent: This is what we want for our children.
At Barley Fields, we aim to nurture the next generation of engineers, designers, architects, and chefs. Our Design & Technology (DT) curriculum encourages children to take risks, experience failure, and develop creativity, resilience, and critical thinking.
We want children to become independent, inventive thinkers who take pride in their work and understand the processes of designing, making, and evaluating. In our school DT provides opportunities to solve real-life problems while developing the skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing, technological world.
Our Implementation – How We Teach DT
Our progressive DT curriculum supports children from Early Years to Year 6, ensuring they know more, do more and remember more as they progress. Learning is hands-on and project-based, with lessons taught in blocks to allow sustained engagement and practical exploration.
Children build skills across four key strands:
- Exploring Products and Developing Ideas
- Developing Skills
- Designing and Making Tasks
- Product Evaluation and Review
These are applied through technical elements such as textiles, mechanisms, structures, electrical systems, and food and nutrition. Our spiral curriculum revisits these areas to consolidate learning and deepen understanding.
High-quality resources, targeted CPD for staff, and the use of our curriculum character, Daisy the Designer, help children understand the skills and end points needed to succeed as young designers and makers.
Our Impact – the difference it makes
Our DT curriculum develops children who:
- Take creative risks and make independent choices
- Carry out research, ask questions, and solve problems
- Work confidently and safely with a range of tools and materials
- Apply scientific and mathematical knowledge to their projects
- Take pride in their achievements and develop resilience
- Are inspired to pursue further learning in DT and STEM fields
We measure success through pupil work, discussions, curriculum floor books, and internal monitoring. Children leave Barley Fields with the confidence, skills, and creativity to thrive in a technological world and the excitement to become the next generation of innovators.
Full details of our curriculum long term schemes of learning and curriculum pathways can be downloaded below.