Computing
At our academy we aim to provide a high-quality computing education that equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.
Our Computing curriculum has been designed as a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:
- Cyclical: The children revisit the five key areas throughout KS1 and LKS2.
- Increasing depth: Each time a key area is revisited, it is covered with greater complexity.
- Prior knowledge: Upon returning to each key area, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build on previous foundations, rather than starting again.
Our computing curriculum is categorised into the five key areas, which we return to in each year group enabling the children to build on and revisit their prior learning. The categories are:
- Computing systems and networks
Identifying hardware and using software, while exploring how computers communicate and connect to one another.
- Programming
Understanding that a computer operates on algorithms, and learning how to write, adapt and debug code to instruct a computer to perform set tasks.
- Creating media
Learning how to use various devices — record, capture and edit content such as videos, music, pictures and photographs
- Data handling
Ensuring that information is collected, recorded, stored, presented and analysed in a manner that is useful and can help to solve problems.
- Online safety
Understanding the benefits and risks of being online — how to remain safe, keep personal information secure and recognising when to seek help in difficult situations.
We believe it's crucial to provide pupils with opportunities for exploratory talk during their learning. This involves thinking aloud, questioning, discussing, and collaboratively building ideas. Similarly, developing oracy skills is essential for pupils to express and articulate themselves effectively across various contexts and settings, including formal ones like public speaking, debates, and interviews.
Through our Computing curriculum, pupils have opportunities to develop their oracy skills by:
- Communicating and solving problems collaboratively in groups or pairs.
- Building on the ideas of others and using discussions to plan programming projects.
- Articulating their thoughts, processes and reasoning (e.g. when debugging).
- Explaining and justifying their decisions during problem-solving tasks.
- Presenting their final outcomes to an audience, enhancing their public speaking skills.
- Evaluating the final outcomes of peers’ work.