Computing

“Teaching in the internet age means we must teach tomorrow’s skills today” – Jennifer Flemming (California State University)

Computing on a page

Intent

Within an ever changing and technological world, we understand and value the importance of teaching Computing from a young age. We acknowledge that future generations will rely heavily on their computational confidence and digital skills in order to support their progress within their chosen career paths.

Therefore, it is our school’s aim to equip children with the relevant skills and knowledge that is required to understand the three core areas of Computing (Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy) and to offer a broad and balanced approach to providing quality first teaching of this subject.

Computing is an integral part to a child’s education and everyday life. Therefore, we intend to support our pupils to access and understand the core principles of this subject through engaging and cross-curricular opportunities.

The teaching objectives for Computing at Arkwright Primary School are:

• To instil an enthusiasm and appreciation of Computing via engaging and well-planned lessons, allowing children to use their skills to create and develop new ideas.
• To develop a scheme of work, in conjunction with the National Curriculum, which provides progression and a breadth of knowledge across all year groups.
• To ensure that teaching staff continue to access the opportunities to attend subject relevant CPD in order to deliver sessions with confidence and to help identify areas in which they can use computational skills within a cross-curricular approach (as part of their termly topics).
• To identify real world examples and creative challenges in which pupils can explore and extend their understanding of the fundamental principles and concepts of Computing.
• To support children to develop and achieve as competent Computational Thinkers by integrating these core concepts and approaches across our whole school ethos.
• To ensure that pupils develop a respectful and responsible attitude towards using information and communication technology, especially with regards to their own and other’s safety.
• To provide a safe space in which pupils can navigate and interact with the digital world, whilst exploring their own personal expression and identity.

Implementation

In order to achieve the outlined intentions, the Computing curriculum is continuously reviewed through monitoring and evaluation by the Subject Leader and Senior Leadership Team.  Teachers demonstrate a high level of enthusiasm for the subject content and their expectations of the pupils are driven by the subject progression grid. This has been written with the three core areas of Computing in mind:

• Computer Science– the understanding of coding and programming across a range of physical devices and digital resources.
• Information Technology – the range of skills required to operate and manipulate specific programs, systems, and content.
• Digital Literacy – the knowledge required to use technology safely and to evaluate and react to any potential risks of the online/digital world. 

The National Curriculum provides the basis for the progression grids and this content is then supplemented by additional resource banks, such as; NCCE, STEM, Education for a Connected World, Scratch, Barefoot, eLIM, Amazing ICT and CAS. We also participate in ‘Internet Safety Week’ in which each class is provided with age appropriate texts and tasks. Cross-curricular opportunities are identified in order to ascertain links between termly topics and to ensure that Computing is not just seen as a standalone area. Staff are encouraged to share any gaps in their knowledge and skill sets to inform appropriate and individualised training/CPD.

In our teaching of Computing we endeavour to expose students to a variety of software, programs, and equipment in order to offer a range of appropriate challenges and experiences. Specific vocabulary for each year group is outlined in the progression grid and this is regularly modelled by teachers within their lessons. Spaced repetition and chunking within the curriculum allows pupils to develop their recall of embedded knowledge and ensures that each year group works on core aspects of the three Computing strands. Sessions are adapted to meet the requirements of a specific cohort and lesson content is frequently reviewed by class teachers and the subject lead. Our schemes of work remain flexible and children share their thoughts on their ‘computing learning journeys’ to help enable sessions to be adapted to their interests and needs.

Impact 

In order to demonstrate that we have accomplished our aims, pupils at Arkwright Primary School should:

• Be enthusiastic and confident in their approach towards Computing.
• Present as competent and adaptable ‘Computational Thinkers’ who are able to use identified concepts and approaches in all areas of their learning.
• Be able to identify the source of problems and work with perseverance to ‘debug’ them.
• Create and evaluate their own project work.
• Have a secure understanding of the positive applications and specific risks associated with a broad range of digital technology.
• Transition to secondary school with a keen interest in the continued learning of this subject.