Computing LTP

COMPUTING AT SHELLEY FIRST SCHOOL Intent At Shelley First School we want our pupils to be masters of technology not just consumers of it. Technology is everywhere. It plays a pivotal role in our children’s lives and will continue to do so as they grow. We want our pupils to be confident creators and contributors. The Royal Society has identified three distinct strands within computing, each of which is complementary to the others: computer science, information technology, and digital literacy. Each component is essential in preparing pupils to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Our computing curriculum reflects this. We model positive use of technology (especially social media) across the school and across the curriculum to ensure children understand there is always a choice when using technology. We recognise that the best prevention for many of the issues we currently see with technology (especially misuse of social media) is through education. We recognise that technology can be used to provide opportunities for pupils to share and publish their work in meaningful ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our pupils. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with opportunities for children to practice and apply their knowledge creatively, helping them to become skilful computer scientists. Staff are encouraged to embed computing across the curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools and skills to be able to express their understanding. We hope that by the time they leave us in year 5, they will begin to show confidence in identifying the most effective tool to fulfil a task set by the teacher. Implementation Computing at Shelley First School delivers the requirements of the National Curriculum through the Teach Computing Curriculum (developed by the National Centre for Computing Education) which is built around a progressive framework where computing content had been organised into interconnected networks weaving from year 1 to year 11. It has been created by experts, using the latest pedagogical research and teacher feedback. The units for key stage 1 and key stage 2 are based on a spiral curriculum. This means that each of the themes is revisited regularly (at least once in each year group), and pupils revisit each theme through a new unit that consolidates and builds on prior learning within that theme. This style of curriculum design reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. It also ensures that connections are made even if different teachers are teaching the units within a theme in consecutive years. Learning graphs are provided as part of each unit and demonstrate progression through concepts and skills. In order to learn some of those concepts (knowledge) and skills, pupils need prior knowledge of others, so the learning graphs show which concepts and skills need to be taught first and which could be taught at a different time. The concepts and skills to be taught across the years are summarised in the progression document below. The Teach Computing Curriculum has been written to support all pupils. Each lesson is sequenced so that it builds on the learning from the previous lesson, and where appropriate, activities are scaffolded so that all pupils can succeed and thrive. Scaffolded activities provide pupils with extra resources, such as visual prompts, to reach the same learning goals as the rest of the class. Exploratory tasks foster a deeper understanding of a concept, encouraging pupils to apply their learning in different contexts and make connections with other learning experiences. Impact We want our children to be confident in asking and answering ‘why’ as well as ‘how’ questions in relation to technology. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and wellbeing, now and in the future.