At Swaffham CofE Primary Academy, our vision is to inspire children, their families and staff to SHINE, LEARN, BELIEVE and BELONG so our children achieve their very best, leaving us as confident, happy, resilient learners. We believe that DT offers our children valuable opportunities to develop deep resilience, problem-solving and risk-taking behaviours. We know that our children lack the opportunities to carry out practical activities outside of school and recognise that DT enables our children this chance to be creative, innovative and good team players, whilst building resilience as they encounter problems along the way. 

We follow the National Curriculum for DT using Dimensions and research to supplement ideas and link our projects with our themes. Children will experience two DT projects per year: one food focus and one non-food to enable a rich, interesting DT curriculum. Through posing a range of fun, practical experiences in DT from Reception through to Year 6, our children will be enthusiastic about DT and enjoy the opportunities provided to be creative and risk-taking. They will learn to solve real and relevant problems which link across the curriculum. Children will be purposefully taught the skills they require to design, make and evaluate a range of innovative products and be able to use a variety of high quality tools and materials with increasing confidence. This exposure to a range of problems and tools will help our children believe in their own ability to solve problems in their own lives both inside and outside of school and inspire a generation of learners to seek careers which require a higher level of strategic thinking. Our children will be inspired to shine as they become innovators themselves, including learning about significant individuals who have helped shape the world of design and technology in addition to time exploring their products. They will be given the opportunity to discuss their own creative ideas with other children as well as time at the end of each unit to rigorously test and evaluate their designs. All children at Swaffham CofE Primary Academy will feel like they belong to a school which inherently values DT and recognises it as a stimulus for useful qualities and character development. Staff at Swaffham CofE Primary Academy will teach as experts of DT, using subject-specific vocabulary and knowledge confidently and accurately, and ensuring that children enjoy their experiences of DT.