The Computing Curriculum at Abbotts Ann CE Primary School

Intent

At Abbotts Ann, our intent is to enable our learners to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and help change the world for the better. Within our computing curriculum, children are taught to use creativity and problem solving to understand and change the world.  They are given practical problems to solve by applying the understanding they have learnt through hands-on experiences.   E-safety is a key part of our teaching and this message is developed from Year R through to Year 6.    We aim for our children to make links between computing, mathematics, science and design technology, whilst developing their understanding of Digital Literacy.Our curriculum is planned to promote opportunities for problem solving, programming with a real world outcome and exploration and presentation of their learning. All computing learning will be built on the foundation of safety and respect and  we will ask the question “Is it safe and is it respectful?” when doing so.

We want our children to understand how technology can be used for good and become aware of how it can be used to cause harm. Age appropriate levels of understanding with regards to the reliability of information on the internet, cyberbullying, mobile technology, staying safe online and other aspects of internet safety will be covered. We want our children to make wise choices in how they use technology as a tool to enhance their learning. Through the

Implementation

Teachers and subject leaders have strong subject knowledge and understanding of skills shared across the whole school via the skills progression map. This will also be achieved by high quality CPD. support from the Computing leader and exchange of good practice with other members of staff. Key vocabulary is used and embedded across different areas of the Computing curriculum and this is consistent across classes. Children revisit different areas of their learning and are taught how to go deeper. Our children are taught how to stay safe online and have a good understanding of how the internet can be used as a good tool and how it can develop their global learning and understanding. Children are encouraged to reflect and evaluate their learning and think about the learning they have achieved.

Children are given the opportunity to work individually and in groups. Children have access to  high quality resources, such as Beebots, i-Pads, Chromebooks, Crumble kits, Scratch, Coding programmes.

“Coding can be tricky but I like working out where I’ve gone wrong” A child in Year 3

Impact

Work produced shows achievement, progression and is aspirational across pupil groups. Children are systematic in their approach to computing and problem solving, understanding the term algorithm, building knowledge of other subject specific language at an age appropriate level. Children are keen to develop their own learning and apply their new knowledge in different contexts. They are able to debug and problem solve when there are issues with programs. Children are ready for the next stage of their education. Progression of skills is captured through the online platform of Purple Mash, with each child having the opportunity to ‘hand in’ their work so that their teacher and the Computing subject lead can see what the children have learnt.

“I enjoy using the Crumble kits- it was fun when we joined them all together and coded them to make them flash” A child in Year 4