Subject Intent: The Design & Technology curriculum promotes practical problem-solving, environmental responsibility, and collective creation to improve everyday life, providing the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to become innovative designers and critical thinkers.

Assessment Framework: No formal exam specification is studied at Key Stage 4, as this subject focuses on building foundational workshop skills at Key Stage 3.

The Five Curriculum Towers in Practice:

• Disciplinary Literacy & Vocab: Focuses heavily on developing workshop-specific, practical vocabulary to empower students to communicate ideas, analyse physical products, and justify design decisions.
• Memory & Retrieval: Learning is carefully sequenced so core concepts in designing, making, and evaluating are systematically revisited, moving progressively towards complex design challenges.
• Inclusion: Creates an inclusive environment that supports safe risk-taking and creative problem-solving by adapting workshop tasks to support SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Enrichment & PD: Promotes adaptability and resilience through hands-on creation, while driving awareness of environmental sustainability and the socio-economic impacts of design.
• Careers & Readiness: Establishes explicit links with external professional designers, manufacturing entities, and engineers to broaden student career horizons.