Computing
Intent
At our school we want pupils to be MASTERS of technology and not slaves to it. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal role in students' lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. As a school, we utilise technology (especially social media) to model positive use because we want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology . We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues society currently sees with technology/social media is through education. Building our knowledge in this subject will allow pupils to effectively demonstrate their learning through creative use of technology.
We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our pupils. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils become skilful computer scientists. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.
Implementation
We have created a comprehensive progression document that links to the Dimensions Curriculum and the Purple Mash Curriculum for staff to follow to best embed and cover every element of the computing curriculum. The knowledge/skills statements build year on year to deepen and challenge our learners.
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Impact
We encourage our children to enjoy and value the curriculum we deliver. We will constantly ask the WHY behind their learning and not just the HOW. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and well being.
Finding the right balance with technology is key to an effective education and a healthy life-style. We feel the way we implement computing helps children realise the need for the right balance and one they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond. We encourage regular discussions between staff and pupils to best embed and understand this. The way pupils showcase, share, celebrate and publish their work will best show the impact of our curriculum. We also look for evidence through reviewing pupil’s knowledge and skills digitally through tools like Google Drive, Purple Mash and Seesaw and observing learning regularly.
Progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes.
Cultural Capital
In computing, pupils develop their cultural capital through spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
- Spiritual: pupils develop their spirituality through exploring creativity and imagination in the design and construction of digital products. Pupils’ self-esteem is promoted through the presentation of work to others. Pupils explore how ideas in computing have inspired others and they create digital products, which incorporate their own beliefs.
- Moral: pupils develop morally through the encouragement of good etiquette when using digital technology including mobile devices and with due regard to e-safety. In computing, we encourage respect for others’ views and opinions as well as developing respect for the computer equipment pupils use and how this affects others. In addition, pupils learn respect in the use of digital equipment and its impact on the environment - for example, ink and paper wastage. Pupils also explore moral issues around the use of digital technology - For example, copyright and plagiarism.
- Social: pupils are encouraged to assist one another in problem solving. In Computing, pupils are encouraged to model appropriate social behaviours in the classroom including listening whilst others are talking and generally interacting as a caring community. We also encourage good practice and respect in the use of social networking.
- Cultural: Encourage the sensible use of digital technology in the classroom and homework situations given that pupils are currently living in a digital world. Encourage an awareness and appreciation of the digital divide and to be aware of differing cultural and spiritual or religious views towards the use of digital technology. We also empower pupils to apply their ICT and computing skills and knowledge to the wider curriculum and acknowledge links between subjects such as the use of coordinates in programming and their connections with maths and geography, for example and also links with design technology and art.