“Those who can imagine anything, can create the impossible.”
Alan Turing (Computer scientist and Mathematician)
At St Peter’s RC Primary School, we are DIGITAL INNOVATORS! We want our children to understand the potential of technology and start to build computing skills for the future. We want them to become digital creators, using technology to support other areas of their work and lives, and also to understand the responsibilities of being digital consumers on their time, relationships and wellbeing. We know the digital workplace is continuously evolving and want them to grow up wanting to a part of that as software engineers, video game designers, web developers or IT consultants. Our Computing curriculum strives to develop resilient, reflective, creative and independent learners. It gives space for children to become “computational thinkers”, tackling problems, making mistakes and learning from them. It also engages our children, through the creative use of technology, to prepare pupils for the demands of the 21st century and the technological world that awaits them in the future. As well as the huge potential of technology, we teach our children to understand the challenges and problems it can create. We teach them to become good digital citizens, to know how to stay safe and keep others safe online, to be aware of the need to test out what and who they see and the importance of what they share in creating their own digital footprint.
Intent
At St Peter’s Roman Catholic Primary School, we want pupils to be independent, forward thinkers of technology and not passive learners. Computing, in general, is a significant part of everyone’s daily life and children should be at the forefront of new technology, with a thirst for learning what is out there. As outlined in the national curriculum there are three main areas that our computing curriculum is designed to cover: computer science, information technology and digital literacy.
The computer science aspect, the core of the computing curriculum, teaches the children about the principles of information and computation, how digital systems works and how to put this to use. The children then build on this knowledge to use information technology to create programs, systems, store and retrieve information, and a range of content. By achieving both of these aspects our intent is to ensure that our pupils become digitally literate and are able to use and express themselves by developing their ideas at a level suitable for the future of the workplace; giving them an active place in a digital world.
We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/ social media is through education. Therefore, we teach our children the importance of online safety through our PHSE lessons.
We have an E- Safety Policy that provides guidance for teachers, parents and pupils about how to use the Internet and Online Platforms safely. Parents also have the opportunity to come into school for an online safety workshop to help support them at home with the growing use of technology at home. We not only want our pupils to be competent, confident and creative users of technology but also safe and responsible digital citizens who can apply the British Values of democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, rule of law and liberty.
Implementation
In meeting our intent, the Computing curriculum is continuously reviewed through monitoring and evaluation by the Subject Leader and Senior Leadership Team.
Our curriculum is supported by the Teach Computing scheme of work. The pedagogy around this scheme is underpinned by 12 principles:
Lead with concepts
Support pupils in the acquisition of knowledge, through the use of key concepts, terms, and vocabulary, providing opportunities to build a shared and consistent understanding. Glossaries, concept maps, and displays, along with regular recall and revision, can support this approach.
Work together
Encourage collaboration, specifically using pair programming and peer instruction, and also structured group tasks. Working together stimulates classroom dialogue, articulation of concepts, and development of shared understanding
Get hands-on
Use physical computing and making activities that offer tactile and sensory experiences to enhance learning. Combining electronics and programming with arts and crafts (especially through exploratory projects) provides pupils with a creative, engaging context to explore and apply computing concepts.
Unplug, unpack, repack
Teach new concepts by first unpacking complex terms and ideas, exploring these ideas in unplugged and familiar contexts, then repacking this new understanding into the original concept. This approach (semantic waves) can help pupils develop a secure understanding of complex concepts.
Model everything
Model processes or practices — everything from debugging code to binary number conversions — using techniques such as worked examples and live coding. Modelling is particularly beneficial to novices, providing scaffolding that can be gradually taken away.
Foster program comprehension
Use a variety of activities to consolidate knowledge and understanding of the function and structure of programs, including debugging, tracing, and Parson’s Problems. Regular comprehension activities will help secure understanding and build connections with new knowledge.
Create projects
Use project-based learning activities to provide pupils with the opportunity to apply and consolidate their knowledge and understanding. Design is an important, often overlooked aspect of computing. Pupils can consider how to develop an artefact for a particular user or function, and evaluate it against a set of criteria.
Add variety
Provide activities with different levels of direction, scaffolding, and support that promote learning, ranging from highly structured to more exploratory tasks. Adapting your instruction to suit different objectives will help keep all pupils engaged and encourage greater independence.
Challenge misconceptions
Use formative questioning to uncover misconceptions and adapt teaching to address them as they occur. Awareness of common misconceptions alongside discussion, concept mapping, peer instruction, or simple quizzes can help identify areas of confusion.
Make concrete
Bring abstract concepts to life with real-world, contextual examples and a focus on interdependencies with other curriculum subjects. This can be achieved through the use of unplugged activities, proposing analogies, storytelling around concepts, and finding examples of the concepts in pupils’ lives.
Structure lessons
Use supportive frameworks when planning lessons, such as PRIMM (Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify, Make) and Use-Modify-Create. These frameworks are based on research and ensure that differentiation can be built in at various stages of the lesson.
Read and explore code first
When teaching programming, focus first on code ‘reading’ activities, before code writing. With both block-based and text-based programming, encourage pupils to review and interpret blocks of code. Research has shown that being able to read, trace, and explain code augments pupils’ ability to write code.
Internet Safety Week
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.
CPD
Staff are encouraged to share any gaps in their knowledge and skill sets to inform appropriate and individualised training/CPD.
Impact
Within Computing, we encourage a creative and collaborative environment in which pupils can learn to express and challenge themselves. The success of the curriculum itself will be assessed via the analysis of yearly progress data, lesson observations and skills audits. This will then inform future adaptions of the scheme of work and help to ensure that progression is evident throughout school.
In order to demonstrate that we have accomplished our aims, pupils at St Peter's Roman Catholic Primary School will:
- 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 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.
Teach computing learning journey poster:
