Design and Technology

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works – Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Inc

Design and Technology in Whitegrove develops children’s skills and knowledge in design, structures, mechanisms, electrical control and a range of materials, including food. It encourages children's creativity and encourages them to think about important issues and the ever changing world in which they live.

Design and Technology education involves two important elements - learning about the designed and made world and how things work, and learning to design and make functional products for particular purposes and users.

At Whitegrove, children investigate and evaluate how products and systems are designed and manufactured. They are encouraged to be innovative and to make creative use of a variety of resources including digital technologies, to improve the world around them. Design and Technology, alongside other STEM subjects, gives children the opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of design and its importance in the modern world.

Learning about past and present designers and makers in Design and Technology, is embedded into projects to provide inspiration, develop a critical understanding of the designed world, and to help pupils apply their learning to real-world contexts. The study of existing work if a core activity that underpins the development of pupils' own design capabilities.

Design and Technology is a practical and valuable subject. At Whitegrove, we hope to enable pupils to actively contribute to the creativity, culture, wealth and well-being of themselves, their community and the wider world. Design and Technology allows children to take risks and so become more resourceful, innovative, enterprising and capable.

Subject Map - Design and Technology