At Matthew Arnold Primary School, we strive to provide our children with the critical thinking skills required to be great designers. Our Design and Technology curriculum stretches from EYFS through to KS1 and KS2. Our progressive planning across KS1 and KS2 ensures that children are able to re-visit and build on existing skills, whilst learning new skills too. Our units of study allow our children to progress through the different stages required to become competent designers. This starts with a research phase, where children have the opportunity to analyse existing products to explore their functionality and seek inspiration for their own designs according to the unit’s focus. Children then move into the design phase, where they produce a range of initial designs, moving into a final design. Children are given the opportunity to practice the skills required to then model and make their final product before producing their final product. The final phase of the process is to evaluate their own work including any improvements. Children in KS2 also move towards analysing the work of their peers.  Our structured progression of lessons allows children to move through a real-life design process, which provides them with dozens of transferable skills. These range from problem solving, critical thinking, designing and practical skills.