At Leigh C of E Academy, we aim to inspire children to think about the important and integral role which design and the creation of designed products play in our society. We want children to understand the process by which everyday ‘real life’ objects are made. We want them to use their creative thinking and imaginative thinking to design, make and evaluate products. We want children to see this as coherent process that enables them as designers, makers and evaluators to see a process through from beginning to end recognising the importance each stage has t o play in a final product.

The sequence of lessons follow a structure to enable the children to become familiar with, understand and practise the process of design: research and investigate, design, make, use and evaluate. The planning for each unit of work specifies the product the children will make, the purpose and user of the product. This specification acknowledges the importance of purpose and user within in the design process. Throughout the course of the lessons the students explore existing products and their uses, generate ideas and designs by creating drawings and prototypes against criteria which they devise having considered purpose, function and appeal. Evaluation against these criteria concludes the process. Discussion is an important part of this process, as is consideration of the properties of potential materials and the choice of tools. Learning about fundamental concepts, skills, developments in history and understanding of the influence of key individuals in the field are interleaved into this process-driven structure. The childrens’ understanding of key skills and concepts builds from year to year, assessing and cementing prior learning, and therefore the implementation of the curriculum in the given sequence is crucial.