St John Fisher RC Primary School
Computing
OUR VISION
Intent
St. John Fisher RC Primary School gives children a wide-ranging and real-world experience of computing that will prepare them for the reality of our ever-changing technological landscape. Children work individually, in pairs and in groups to solve problems in an array of different situations and on a variety of different platforms to apply their computing skills through real-life problem-based learning scenarios.
Our computing curriculum aims to develop a high level of digital literacy and confidence:
- Giving the children practical experience of writing programs to solve problems.
- Developing an understanding of algorithms, abstraction, logic and data representation.
- Allowing children to experiment with and evaluate new technologies in an analytical manner.
- Making links with digital literacy skills so that children can safely, creatively and confidently navigate their digital landscape.
Implementation
Computing is taught using the 2014 National Curriculum as its basis. The scheme of work we follow has been designed and created alongside MGL in order to link different topics and subjects throughout the curriculum in a meaningful and progressive manner. We will encourage children to develop their confidence in using technologies in real-world contexts by giving them a range of web apps and software that they can access like PicCollage, Google Maps, Microsoft Office, Apple Movies, GarageBand and Scratch, amongst many others. This will enable them to practise the skills that they have learnt in a wide range of contexts. Through working alongside MGL, teachers and support staff will have continued professional development and the opportunity to discuss any issues or problems they might encounter throughout the curriculum either face to face, online or with the Computing Subject Leader. The topics have been clearly mapped to Age Related Expectations (AREs) and have been organised with teachers, the Computing Lead and MGL. This ensures that the pitching of lessons and progression is clear throughout the school. Planning is saved on the school’s server. Full class access to equipment is available for each individual class within phases. EYFS are able to gain access to any of this equipment when they need it.
There are also interactive boards in every class including EYFS. Assessment is carried out in the form of teacher assessment against age-related expectations. This, combined with other assessment and monitoring strategies such as whole class learning journeys, will continue to inform and develop the computing curriculum statement and action plan.
Impact
Insight is used to record the progress that pupils are making in terms of knowing more, remembering more and being able to do more at the end of each academic year. This will record whether the children are working towards the age-related expectations, at the age related expectations or exceeding the age-related expectations. These judgements will be quality assured by the subject leader using first-hand evidence of how pupils are doing, drawing together evidence from pupil voice interviews, observations of tasks, reading tasks, work scrutinies and discussions with pupils about what they have remembered about the content they have studied. These judgements will inform the curriculum and whether children are ready for the next stage of their education.
