Computing
Intent
Within an increasingly digital world, we hope to develop pupils who are confident, creative, reflective and responsible users of technology. We are aware that future generations will rely heavily on their computational confidence and digital skills and therefore aim to embed a broad and balanced computing curriculum throughout the school. The aim is to ensure pupils are digitally literate whilst also developing problem solving and critical thinking skills. We hope that pupils will gain confidence and enjoyment from our computing curriculum whilst also gaining an understanding of how to be socially aware, responsible digital citizens.
Implementation
At St Anne’s we follow the “Teach Computing” scheme produced by the National Centre for Computing Education which follows all aspects of the National Curriculum. This scheme was chosen as it has been created by subject experts and based on the latest pedagogical research. The scheme allows for a clear pathway of progression throughout the school; skills learnt in KS1 are developed and built upon as children reach KS2.
The National Curriculum for computing aims to ensure all pupils:
- can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation (Computer science)
- can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems (Computer science)
- can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems (Information technology)
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. (Digital literacy)
Computing is taught discretely and in a cross-curricular manner across the school and children are given opportunities to use a range of software.
Impact
At St Anne’s, we measure the impact of our computing curriculum in the following ways;
- Discussions with children to assess understanding in relation to new concepts and key vocabulary.
- Observing children during lessons to ensure teachers and subject leads are aware of when children have mastered a skill and which areas require further reinforcement prior to moving on.
- Summative assessment- termly data analysed by subject leads.
We aim for pupils to be able to talk confidently about their work and share their learning with others.
E- safety
An important part of the curriculum is e-safety- learning to stay safe on the Internet. This is covered in all year groups supported by Project Evolve resources and lesson plans.
There are several web sites that are useful for parents to look to support their child's learning in this area and to develop your own knowledge and understanding.
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/advice-and-resources/parents-and-carers/parents-guide-to-technology
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/
What can parents do to help their children with computing?
Simply be interested! Just as you chat to children when they come home about what they have been reading, writing, drawing and discussing at school, so you can talk to them about what they’re doing with computing and coding.
If you are intimidated by the idea of programming, talking through what you children have been doing may be a good way to demystify the subject. I suspect children will be delighted to tell parents something they don’t know about! Even if you’re daunted by programming as a subject, seeing it through the eyes of a child will hopefully make it much less intimidating.
There are ways to go further, including learn-to-code apps like Tynker, Hopscotch, ScratchJr and Hakitzu that can be downloaded and used at home; an online coding contest Shaun the Sheep’s Game Academy began earlier this year.
The Scratch programming language,which we will be using in school, is freely accessible online at home too and many of the IPAD APPS are cheap to purchase, so that your child can continue with his or her learning at home.
Our long term plan can be viewed below
