“A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.” National Curriculum – Computing.
At Weetwood Primary, we want our children to understand the potential of technology and start to build computing skills for the future. We want them to become digital creators, using technology to support other areas of their work and lives, and also to understand the responsibilities of being digital consumers on their time, relationships and wellbeing. We know the digital workplace is continuously evolving and want them to grow up wanting to a part of that as software engineers, video game designers, web developers or IT consultants. Our Computing curriculum strives to develop resilient, reflective, creative and independent learners. It gives space for children to become “computational thinkers”, tackling complex problems, making mistakes and learning from them. It also engages our children, through the creative use of technology, to prepare pupils for the demands of the 21st century and the technological world that awaits them in the future. As well as the huge potential of technology, we teach our children to understand the challenges and problems it can create. We teach them to become good digital citizens, to know how to stay safe and keep others safe online, to be aware of the need to test out what and who they see and the importance of what they share in creating their own digital footprint.
The teaching of Computing at Weetwood Primary School places problem solving at the heart of learning. We use the Kapow computing programme of study and this covers all of the National Curriculum Computing objectives and also the Education for a Connected World Framework. The three key areas of the computing curriculum – Digital Literacy, Computer Science and Information Technology – have been split into 5 key strands which run through the Kapow curriculum – Computing systems and networks, programming, creating media, data handling and online safety. These are revisited each year and this clear progression of skills ensures all pupils are challenged in line with their year group expectations and are given the opportunity to build on their prior knowledge. Children will have a one hour, timetabled lesson each week and will use the Chromebooks.
Staff ensure that skills are built on those learnt in previous years to consolidate and further progress. Pupils will save their work in a named folder in their Google Drive so a build-up of evidence can been seen over time. We believe that when assessing computing, it is important to look for evidence of knowledge of understanding as well as technical skills. Asking pupils to talk about what they have learned as well as showing the work they have completed provides important evidence of learning. We assess through observation of work on tasks, contribution to class discussion and peer discussions. In addition to this, our pupils will be ‘future ready’ and have the skills and knowledge to adapt to the technology of the future.