Intent
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we deliver a high-quality computing curriculum that has computational thinking and creativity at it’s heart. We believe that children should be equipped to harness the power of technology and understand it’s advantages and disadvantages alike. We aim through our curriculum to support children to become responsible, conscientious digital citizens, that can navigate the online world safely and confidently. We aim to simulate children’s interests in computer sciences and understand how it is embedded into the world we live in through connections with wider subject areas.
Our Computing curriculum provides pupils with a range of opportunities to create, explore and develop content for themselves and others through ‘unplugged’ activities, as well as offering pupils the chance to access a variety of devices, ensuring each child can experience a range of technology, preparing them for the next stage of education.
We intend to inspire pupils to become confident and safe digital citizens by:
• Developing an interest in computer science, and understand its importance in today’s world.
• Understanding the importance of staying safe and communicating positively and effectively online.
• Learning about the ownership of ideas and recognise the value of information held on IT systems e.g. recognising how much work has gone into producing a computer file, and how easily careless access can destroy it.
• Developing knowledge and understanding of important ideas, processes and skills and relate these to everyday experiences
• Enabling children to navigate the internet safely and understand how and when to report something that makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Enabling children to express their creativity through the use of IT.
• To equip pupils with the confidence and capability to use IT throughout their education, home and further work life.
• Fostering enjoyment, curiosity and creativity through the use of IT and stimulate interest in new technologies.
Implementation
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, the teaching and learning of Computing focuses on enabling children to access a range of experiences to equip them to become excellent digital learners and citizens. We have used the best research to create a well sequenced and progressive curriculum map containing the key concepts children need to be procedurally fluent in, to work, think and create like computing professionals.
The key concepts in Computing we plan a progression for are as follows:
• Problem solving and logical thinking
• Creative Content
• Digital literacy (Including E-Safety)
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we enable children to become confident digital citizens that are able to navigate the online world and are equipped with the skills to flourish in a digital society.
We develop children’s computational thinking, understanding and skills through a range of unplugged and plugged teaching styles, access to a range of digital devices and discrete computing lessons that enable children to build on their knowledge and skills.
We teach children decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, adaptation and the language of algorithms, all of which link to wider curriculum and key life skills. At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, teachers are responsible for including the key elements of Computing into their topics, where apropriate.
Impact
At St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, we use both formative and summative assessment information in every Computing lesson. Staff use this information to inform their planning and to plan interventions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able. Our staff use Computing formative assessment to systematically assess what the children know as the topic progresses and inform their future planning. Assessment information is collected at the end of the academic year.
In addition to this, a comprehensive monitoring cycle is developed at the beginning of each academic year. This identifies when monitoring is undertaken. Monitoring in Computing includes: book scrutinies, environment and learning walks and pupil voice. All of this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly.
We believe that if children have become knowledgeable digital citizen, then they will be able to articulate their understanding with confidence. The work produced by our children and the discussions they have, should demonstrate that they are equipped with the computational skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the secondary curriculum and for life as an adult
Progression of Skills
