Specialist primary D&T consultancy support for primary schools without a design and technology specialist. Clear progression, confident non-specialist teaching, and safe practical work that fits a normal classroom with a normal budget.
Or download the free curriculum check first
A subject came free, a capable teacher said yes, and now they’re responsible for a specialism they may not have studied since they were fourteen. They’ve found units that are creative and practical, the children make something they’re proud of, and it’s on the display board by the end of term.
It’s lovely work. It’s just not always Design and Technology.
You’ll recognise it if:
That’s not a failure of teaching. It’s a subject knowledge gap, and it’s structural. Then somebody mentions a deep dive, and your D&T lead has to explain seven years of progression in twenty minutes. This is why D&T subject leader support is crucial.
The difference is never the materials. You can do genuine D&T with card and masking tape. What makes it D&T is the decision-making.
In Art |
In D&T |
|---|---|
| The child is the author | The child is designing for someone else |
| The outcome is expressive and personal | There’s a user, a purpose and constraints |
| Judged on how it looks and what it says | Judged on whether it does the job |
Art or D&T? is an eight page audit your subject leader can run across your existing units in about twenty minutes. It shows you which units are genuinely D&T, which of the five strands you’re missing, and which units are one small change away from working.
No sales sequence. One click to download
Most primaries need two or three of these. Very few need all six.
Your units mapped against the D&T National Curriculum and Expert Subject Advisory Group framework across all five strands, so you can see the gaps.
I’d rather fix what you’ve got than sell you a new scheme. Cheaper, faster, and your staff already know how to run it.
Planning written for a class teacher with forty minutes to prepare, including the subject knowledge they need for that unit.
No workshop, no technician, one adult and thirty children. Tools, routines, storage and risk assessment support aligned with BS 4163:2021+A1:2022 and CLEAPSS.
The most commonly dropped strand. There are workable ways round the allergens, the hygiene, the staffing and the missing kitchen.
Your D&T lead explaining the intent and progression in their own words, without a script.
I’m Claire. I lead Design and Technology in a secondary school where I was a founding member of staff, and where the department has grown from one person in a temporary classroom to a full team with complete curriculum coverage. The school was recently judged Outstanding by Ofsted.
That matters for primary work in a specific way. I’m the one who finds out every September what Year 6 children can actually do. I know which primary experiences make children arrive able to handle a design brief, and which leave them waiting to be told what to make.
I’m also still teaching. I write my own risk assessments and plan around a real budget, so nothing I suggest will assume resources you don’t have.
A capable D&T lead who’s out of their depth and knows it. Or a curriculum review coming up and D&T is the subject nobody can speak to with confidence.
D&T usually varies more between your schools than any other subject, because it depends on whether someone in that building happens to be interested.
KS2 and KS3 could genuinely join up. Usually they don’t, because the two phases rarely plan together.
Half an hour, no charge. You tell me what’s prompting this. I tell you honestly whether I’m the right person for it.
What I’d look at, how long, and what it costs. Fixed scope, no open-ended retainers.
On-site and remote. On-site means seeing D&T taught and talking to your subject leader, not just reading your long term plan.
Clear priorities in an order that makes sense, written so a busy head can read it in fifteen minutes.
What is the difference between art and design and technology in primary?
Art is expressive and the child is the author. D&T is purposeful, with a user, constraints and an outcome judged on whether it works. Same materials, different thinking. Most primary units labelled D&T are one design decision and one technical concept away from being genuine D&T.
Our D&T lead is already overwhelmed. Will this add to their workload?
That’s the thing I’m most careful about. In practice it usually reduces their load, because the biggest drain is the low-level worry that they’re doing it wrong.
Will this feel like criticism of our subject leader?
No, and I’m deliberate about that. I offer D&T subject leader support for the specialism they were never trained in. The work is done with them, and the first outcome is normally relief.
We have no workshop, no tools and no budget.
Neither do most primaries. Good KS1 and KS2 D&T needs clear design decisions, a bit of technical knowledge and safe routines with hand tools. The budget conversation is usually smaller than schools expect.
What does this work not cover?
It advises and supports. It doesn’t replace your statutory health and safety responsibilities, your school or trust policies, BS 4163, CLEAPSS or employer guidance, and it doesn’t certify staff competency. Everything is adapted to your own space, staffing, pupils and risk profile.
Half an hour, no charge, no proposal unless you ask for one.
Or email claire@ppabuddy.com
