Kingfisher Primary Astrea Academy Trust
Computing
‘One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.’ – Elbert Hubbard
The Purpose of Computing
At Kingfisher Primary, we expect the highest aspirations for our pupils. We want all children to learn and make academic progress no matter their starting points. We have a clear vision for what we want pupils to achieve during their time at Kingfisher Primary and have designed our curriculum to give all pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they will need in their future years. We want:
- To provide pupils with opportunities to develop their ICT capabilities to participate in an ever-changing technological world.
- To allow pupils to gain confidence and enjoyment from their ICT activities and to develop skills which extend and enhance their learning throughout the curriculum.
- To develop pupils’ awareness of the use of computers not only in the classroom, but also in everyday life.
- To allow pupils to evaluate the potential of computers and their limitations.
- To develop logical thinking and problem solving skills.
- To provide opportunities for pupils to gain knowledge about as many different technological tools as possible.
- To encourage pupils to become autonomous, independent users of IT both as a learning resource and as a discipline in its own right.
Intention
Our IT Curriculum offers pupils a computing education designed for mastery using research-led computing pedagogies and covers all three strands of the computing curriculum:
- Computer Science
- Information Technology
- Digital Literacy (including online safety)
A positive teacher mindset and strong subject knowledge is key to student success in computing. By using the Teach Computing scheme, we aim to enhance pupils’ enjoyment, resilience, understanding and attainment in computing by empowering and equipping teachers to deliver a quality computing education with comprehensive computing schemes of work that are designed for computing mastery.
Our vision is for every child in every school in England to have a world-leading computing education.
Every child can enjoy and succeed in computing when offered appropriate learning opportunities.
Pupils are taught through whole-class interactive teaching with pupils working together on the same lesson content at the same time. Lessons are sequenced so that concepts are developed in logical steps with particular attention given to fundamental concepts. This ensures that all children can master concepts before moving to the next stage, with no pupil left behind.
Curriculum equity is offered with all pupils being given the time and opportunity to fully understand, explore and apply skills and ideas in different ways, in different situations and in different subjects. This enables pupils to fully grasp a concept and understand the relevance of their learning.
Implementation
Teach Computing offers expertise in primary computing education and has the knowledge and practical skills to design primary computing curricula. It supports schools around the world in implementing computing curricula fully matched to the National Curriculum. Teach Computing supports us to develop computing by providing detailed guidance and a range of tools that enables teachers to deliver the curriculum in an informative way. Teach Computing has a proven record of raising standards and attainment in computing.
It follows a comprehensive progression of skills which are mapped out from KS1 all the way up to KS4, meaning it feeds into the secondary curriculum. The KS1 and KS2 curriculum map is as follows:
Impact of the Curriculum on Pupils’ Learning
In computing, the curriculum is ambitious and the curriculum is the progression model. It is progressively more challenging over time. With children’s learning outcomes, teachers and subject leaders talk to pupils about their learning and what they have understood and remembered. Teachers make adaptations to lessons to anticipate misconceptions or gaps, and leaders look at learning across year groups to inform any big decisions about curriculum adaptations.
Leaders measure the impact of the computing curriculum through:
- learning saved within pupil shared – to see the curriculum outcomes for children across the whole school in order to collect evidence
- learning walks – how well the curriculum intent is embedded
- pupil voice – enables us to listen to pupils’ views about their learning and how well curriculum content is taught and understood;
- interleaved practice – enables us to measure children retained knowledge over time and recap prior learning and concepts.