Computing

Computing Curriculum Intent

Vision

Our curriculum at Lockerley Primary School encompasses the following aims to meet the needs of our children and the Computing curriculum is a vehicle to bring these aims to life:

Aims of our curriculum

ACTIVE - Provide richness and depth to inspirational learning in school. Using a wide range of technologies such as Chromebooks, IPads, floor robots, voice recording and data recorders, the children have access to a variety of high quality resources and opportunities to directly explore the ways in which computing has an impact on our lives.
EXPERIENCES - Provide a breadth of opportunity out of school whilst rooting children in their immediate and local environment. We ensure children have a positive experience with technology and have access to a wide range of opportunities. In our constantly developing technological world we feel it is so important for children to experience all that computing has to offer.
DIVERSITY - Build cultural awareness & knowledge to encourage children to be outward looking and forward thinking. Teaching across both key stages provides opportunities for children to use technology to express themselves and appreciate how others choose to do this. They use the internet to safely explore how others use technology and computing in day to day life and build on their cultural awareness through finding out about a wide range of people from across the world wide web.
PURPOSE - We believe learning should matter. Making meaningful learning is central to our teaching. Learning journeys are made clear to the children with an outcome we are working towards and the steps along the way. We have developed ‘real life’ opportunities for children to share their work.

Computing Curriculum Implementation

EYFS

EYFS planning is matched to age and stage appropriate curriculum. Computing skills are adapted to match key areas of the curriculum, with children building on their knowledge of everyday technologies and how these are part of their learning. The provision includes individual and small group work, and a balance between guided interaction with direct teaching and child-led activities. Objective led planning allows the teachers to tailor individual next steps, based on assessments, into the environment and play-based activities for the children. Small group work is used to target particular needs, and early intervention is also used 1:1 with a child if they have been identified as not keeping up.

Y1-6

Computing is taught throughout the year, and as such an important subject in the current climate it is allocated a session weekly. We use Teach Computing to support our teaching which is a project designed by the National Centre for Computing Education to develop and extend children’s computing skills. The programme has been planned using the National Curriculum objectives. Each year group has a long term plan which outlines the learning journeys to be covered. This is a progressive cyclical learning approach where learning is revisited over the course of each Key Stage, deepening their understanding each time.

Each unit is focused on a different aspect of the Computing curriculum; Creating Media, Data and information, and Programming. The learning journey is central to the teaching and this is made clear to the children with a purposeful outcome linked to real life situations. These skills in each of the main strands are developed and consolidated throughout each yearly cycle.

We develop children with the following essential characteristics to help them become competent at computing:

understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
be responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Planning is flexible to the learners needs and can run over a course of a few days. Tasks are designed to support and scaffold and to deepen learning. Children are encouraged to self-select the tasks depending on their confidence level.

We also strongly believe that within our curriculum skills should be developed alongside knowledge. Therefore we have a set of core skills at the centre of our curriculum which underpin everything we do. These build progressively as the children move through the school.

To seek out and enjoy challenges
To ask questions to extend thinking
To collaborate with others
To overcome barriers by trying out alternative and adapting or developing ideas
To assess themselves and others
To show commitment and perseverance
To connect ideas and experiences in different ways
To generate ideas and explore possibilities.

Computing Curriculum Impact

Assessments are made by the teachers continuously and used to plan subsequent lessons. Tapestry is used within EYFS to record observations and assessments. This shares learning with parents and we encourage parents to share learning from home through this platform. Live marking within lessons drives immediate feedback and adaptations to learning. If feedback is given after the lesson, children are expected to respond to the marking during the following session. Teachers track individual progress on assessment sheets which identify children not achieving Age Related Expectations and those exceeding them. This provides information for the pitch of teaching in the next Computing unit, and highlights areas that could be covered during the other terms where appropriate.