Design and Technology Curriculum
Built by subject experts to give every child the confidence to design, make and create.
DT should be one of the most exciting subjects in your school
When design and technology is taught well, children don’t just make things. They learn to think like designers and engineers. They develop problem-solving skills, creative confidence and the ability to turn an idea into something real. But without a specialist in every classroom, delivering that experience consistently across a whole school is genuinely hard. DT can feel resource-heavy, difficult to plan and easy to deprioritise. That’s exactly why we built a practical, carefully sequenced DT curriculum that gives every teacher everything they need to make it brilliant, no matter their level of confidence or subject expertise, fully aligned to the design and technology national curriculum.
What does great design and technology teaching look like?
Children arrive at DT lessons curious and motivated, knowing they’ll be designing, making and evaluating something real. Your teachers plan and deliver lessons with confidence, supported by clear guidance, tried and tested activities and all the resources they need already in place. And your DT lead has a clear view of progression and coverage across the whole school, from Nursery to Year 6, and can lead the subject with genuine credibility. This is the reality for schools using the Cornerstones design and technology curriculum.
Here’s what sets our design and technology curriculum apart
Four reasons why schools choose the Cornerstones design and technology curriculum to strengthen their subject provision.
Curriculum quality and sequencing
Every DT project is built on a robust progression framework spanning Nursery to Year 6. Children develop design skills, making skills and evaluative thinking in a carefully sequenced order, building meaningfully on what they learned before. This isn't a collection of making activities. It's a properly built curriculum.
Teacher confidence
You don't need to be a DT specialist to teach this curriculum brilliantly. Every project comes with clear guidance, step-by-step instructions, demo videos and tried and tested activities, so teachers know exactly what to do and how to do it, whatever their level of subject expertise.
Assessment
Assessing DT doesn't have to be complicated. Our integrated assessment tools let teachers check and record progress naturally within lessons. Build an accurate picture of children's knowledge and understanding across the whole curriculum.
Breadth and coverage
Our DT curriculum covers the full DT national curriculum across all three areas: design, make and evaluate, as well as cooking and nutrition. Every programme of study is covered, giving your DT lead complete confidence in the breadth and depth of the subject across the school.
See how Cornerstones could transform your design and technology curriculum
Whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to strengthen what you already have, a curriculum conversation is the best place to start.
Cornerstones allowed us to add structure and sequence to our teaching and learning programme, but always with our school's own character at the heart.
David Jenkins
Inside the Cornerstones design and technology curriculum
Here's what you get with the Cornerstones design and technology curriculum
Planning and teaching
- Sequenced DT projects from Nursery to Year 6
- Detailed lesson plans with clear skills and knowledge
Resources
- Quality resources supporting teaching and learning
- Knowledge organisers and vocabulary support
Assessment
- Concept-led skills and knowledge progression framework
- Fully integrated formative and summative assessment
Subject leadership
- Leadership tools and free online support
- Clear links to present and future programmes of study
Our digital platform gives your DT lead the tools to lead with confidence
Maestro is our digital curriculum platform that brings your design and technology curriculum to life as a managed, trackable system. Your DT lead can see exactly what is being taught in every year group, from EYFS through to your KS2 design and technology curriculum, monitor progression across the school, identify gaps and adapt projects to suit your context.
Every lesson is live and connected, so teachers always work from the same coherent curriculum. And because all resources sit in one place, there’s no more searching for demo videos or instruction sheets. Everything your teachers need is exactly where they expect it to be.
Find out more about Maestro
What senior leaders say
I love the Cornerstones values and how everything builds from EYFS, creative, fun and with lots of practical activities.
Christie Clarke
Our children need lots of practical, hands-on experiences such as the memorable experiences, resources and videos in the Cornerstones curriculum. These help layer on the learning for our children and it works perfectly.
Read their story
Carrie Kiselis
Cornerstones has helped our school to implement an ambitious, knowledge-rich, expertly-designed curriculum.
Abigail Bible
Give your children a design and technology curriculum to be proud of
Whether you're building your DT curriculum from scratch or looking to strengthen what you already have, a curriculum conversation is the best place to start.