Thornton Hough Primary School

“Learning for Life”

Computing Curriculum

Intent

At Thornton Hough school we want our children to love computing. We want to show pupils the links between knowledge, skills and real life employment opportunities and have no limits to what their ambitions are. We want our children to grow up wanting to be software engineers, video game designers, web developers or IT consultants. We want them to embody our core values and encourage them to dream big!

We have worked to ensure that our computing curriculum has been carefully crafted so that our children develop their digital capital progressively. We have made it our aim to ensure that children experience engaging, memorable computing lessons in our school. We want our children to leave our school with cherished memories and the ability to embrace the opportunities they are presented with in relation to computing and IT. The computing curriculum promotes curiosity, one of our key values, and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient – like all curriculum areas in our school.

Not only do we want our children to be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through our computer science lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience and problem-solving and critical thinking skills. We want our pupils to have a breadth of experience to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens.

We are passionate about embedding our values based curriculum into all our learning, including Computing, as our core values are placed at the heart of everything we do. For example, in the Spring term the whole school will celebrate ‘Safer Internet Day’ to reiterate the importance of staying safe online and being kind and respectful to people as we would do in ‘real life’. This is underpinned by a comprehensive plan for teaching e-safety all through the year.

Implementation

We encourage children to embrace technology and to have a life-long love of learning. Through a progressive skills-based curriculum, we aim to develop confident, independent learners who are able to plan, design, create, program and evaluate information, through the use of ICT, ensuring that children become digitally literate to be active, safe participants in the digital world. At Thornton Hough School, computing is taught in discreet computing lessons. Our scheme of work for Computing is adapted from the ‘Teach Computing’ Curriculum and covers all aspects of the National Curriculum. This builds on well from what the children have learnt in the EYFS whilst following the Barefoot curriculum which is based on ‘Computational Thinking’ . The ‘Teach Computing scheme was chosen as it has been created by subject experts and based on the latest pedagogical research. It provides an innovative progression framework where computing content (concepts, knowledge, skills and objectives) has been organised into interconnected networks called learning graphs. The curriculum aims to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to thrive in the digital world of today and the future. It can be broken down into 3 strands: computer science, information technology and digital literacy, with the aims of the curriculum reflecting this distinction.

Every lesson in our computing curriculum can be effectively taught using the infrastructure we have in place at school and so that it can meet the needs of all our pupils. Our chosen scheme has been closely referenced against the 2014 National Curriculum attainment targets in order to ensure progression and coverage. Knowledge and skills are mapped across each topic and year group to ensure systematic progression.

Having discreet lessons means that the children are able to develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their computing topics. Where appropriate, meaningful links will be made between the computing curriculum and the wider curriculum. In computing lessons, the children will use either the iPad or laptops in order to access a range of apps and software. Discreet computing lessons will focus on the curriculum skills of information technology, digital literacy and computer science. Summative assessment for KS2 units will ensure that skills can be measured and evaluated effectively.

A key part of implementing our computing curriculum was to ensure that safety of our pupils is paramount. We take online safety very seriously and we aim to give children the necessary skills to keep themselves safe online. Children have a right to enjoy childhood online, to access safe online spaces and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring them, appropriate to their age and stage. Children build online resilience through the use of the ‘Project Evolve – Education for a Connected World’ framework and our EC PHSE scheme of work. Both frameworks aim to support and broaden the provision of online safety education, so that it is empowering, builds resilience and effects positive culture change. The objectives promote the development of safe and appropriate long-term behaviours, and support educators in shaping the culture within their setting and beyond.

Impact

At Thornton Hough school we use both formative and summative assessment information in every computing lesson. This is based on our progression of key skills and lesson objectives. Staff use this information to inform their short-term planning and short-term interventions, if needed. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able pupils. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in computing are progressive and build year on year. Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our school monitoring system. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in computing. Monitoring in computing includes: staff audits, work sampling, lesson observations and/or learning walks, and conversations with staff, pupils and parents about the computing curriculum. All of this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly. The children are thoroughly enjoying their computing curriculum and are keen to communicate to staff how much they are enjoying their computing lessons!

If you wish to support your child at home to further develop their skills in computing, please click on the links below:

Programming (coding) is important for children as it will help improve their mathematics and writing skills, it will give them valuable life skills, which will be used eventually in the workplace. Develop your child’s skill by learning the basics of coding; you do not even need a computer! Problem solving, thinking creatively, and it helps them to develop resilience.

Online safety

Online safety is an integral part of children’s education in today’s digital world and is embedded in their learning at school. We also want to help our parents and children improve their own understanding of e-safety issues so they can learn to use the internet and all digital media in a safe and secure way. Please see our online Safety Policy under the 'Policies' tab and our online safety section of the website for more information.