Computing
Intent: What do we want our children to learn?
We aim to help our pupils develop computational thinking and digital literacy to enable them to be confident participants in an everchanging digital world. We intend to equip pupils with knowledge of both computers and computer systems. We encourage them to draw on this knowledge and their creativity to solve problems. Pupils at Fircroft are prepared from Early Years to use technology responsibly as part of the community, in a way that reflects our school values.
Implementation: What does computing look like at Fircroft?
At Fircroft, we use the Teach Computing curriculum from the National Centre for Computing Education to ensure our curriculum is broad, balanced and ambitious. It is structured as a spiral curriculum, meaning that children repeatedly build on their prior learning. Support and challenge for all pupils is built into our curriculum.
The Teach Computing curriculum consists of 6 units per year, which fall into the following four categories: computing systems and networks, creating media, data and information and programming. The national curriculum splits computing into three strands, computer science, information technology and digital literacy. These strands are built into the 6 units over the course of the year.
Online Safety is an important part of both our Computing and PSHE Curriculum. In Computing, every lesson includes a discussion about an online safety scenario to support our pupils to learn how to use technology safely and respectfully. In both Computing and PSHE, pupils are taught to identify and keep private, personal information and to recognise where to go for help and support when they have concerns.
Some examples of our units of work in KS1 include digital painting, moving a robot and digital writing. These skills are further built on in KS2 through our units on stop-frame animation, photo editing, video production and 3D modelling. To develop their physical computing and programming skills, in Early Years and KS1, pupils use Bee-bots robots, specifically designed for younger children, while in KS2, children are introduced to technology such as crumbles and micro:bits.
Impact: How do we support children to retain their knowledge and check that they have
At Fircroft, pupils are encouraged to confidently articulate their learning. This is particularly emphasised at the start of our lessons, during a knowledge and skills recap.
Pupils’ work is celebrated and recorded via online folders in various digital forms, such as photography or a recording of their musical piece.
The impact of our computing curriculum is carefully monitored through talking to our pupils, reviewing lessons and the outcomes of units of work. Formative assessment is ongoing throughout each unit in our scheme of work.
