Click here for: Computing Long Term Overview
Our Vision
At The Glebe, our vision is to support children in becoming creative, independent learners and ensure they develop a healthy and safe relationship with technology. We value and recognise the contribution that technology can make for the benefit of all pupils, staff, parents, governors and the wider community. We strive to provide safe opportunities in computing to motivate, inspire and raise standards across the curriculum. We strive to ensure that everyone in our school community is equipped with the digital skills to meet developing technology with confidence, enthusiasm and prepare all for a future in an ever-changing world.
Intent
Our aim is for all children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We aim to use technology to support learning across the curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want all of our pupils to be digitally literate and competent users of technology, but through our computer science lessons, we want them to develop creativity, resilience, problem-solving and critical thinking skills. We aim for every child to have a breadth of experience to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community, but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens. We want our children to be creators and innovators not just mere consumers of digital content. The children at The Glebe School are taught to understand that technology is an integral part of modern life and the key to the future is to harness and understand technology’s potential. Computing is a constantly evolving subject that involves solving complex problems, being able to collaborate with others, learn from mistakes and refine solutions.
Our computing curriculum is designed to be easy to follow, with logical sequenced steps that will equip all children with the essential skills and knowledge they need to use technology safely and creatively. It has numerous cross circular links with art, mathematics, science, PSHE and design and technology. When planning, we ensure that children can build on their understanding, as each new concept is taught, with opportunities for children to consolidate and reapply their skills and knowledge throughout the year. Each computing unit is planned to provide new challenges and variety, to ensure high engagement. There is a strong emphasis on improving computing/digital vocabulary, core fundamental digital skills and computational concepts. Our computing units are organised into a series of hour long whole-class lessons, with the children working together on the same lesson content at the same time. Every unit has reflection and assessment points, this ensures that all children can process and articulate the concepts within the lesson before moving to the next lesson, with no pupil left behind. The children create their own digital learning journals that record their understanding and tell their own story of the content they create. These journals and the content the children create, illuminate their progression as digital storytellers, problem solvers and showcase mastery of computing. The journals are shared with parents/carers via Seesaw.
E-safety is an extremely important part of keeping children safe at The Glebe School. We promote and model a balanced digital life, recognising that amongst the many positives that technology has to offer, risks exist and children need to be taught to manage their digital lives properly. We strive to model and educate our children to use technology creatively, positively, responsibly and safely. Our curriculum supports the key aims of the government’s Internet Safety Strategy (Digital Literacy / UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) framework) of supporting children to stay safe and make a positive contribution online, as well enabling teachers to develop effective strategies for understanding and handling online risks.
We believe there are core digital skills that children must possess if they are to meet our school’s vision of independence, creativity and a healthy digital life.
- All children must have a basic understanding of coding and how the internet works.
- All children must be able to evaluate online information and be social media savvy.
- All children must understand online safety rules and know how to report and block.
- All children must be proficient with word processing and able to use cloud storage.
- All children must be able to create visually engaging content/presentations in order to present learning to others.
- All children must have experience of online collaboration and using communication tools.
- All children must be taught the concept of personal archiving and possess their own digital portfolio of work.
Implementation
At The Glebe, the requirements of the Computing Curriculum are taught through half-termly units. The Computing curriculum is carefully mapped out to ensure that pupils acquire knowledge, vocabulary and skills in a well-thought out and progressive manner, with each teacher following the Knowsley Computing Scheme of Work and progression document. The Knowsley scheme highlights the knowledge, skills and vocabulary for each year group and is progressive from year to year. New learning is based upon what has been taught before and prepares children for what they will learn next. Every unit has a clear end point and an end product which children work towards on their learning journey. The teaching style that we adopt is as active and practical as possible although at times, we do give children direct instruction on how to use hardware and software. We teach computing both discretely and cross curricular when clear links with other subjects are present.
Our Computing units and progression model is broken down into four strands that make up our computing curriculum. These are Essential Skills, Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy.
Essential Skills: ensure the children have the core basic skills to use multiple devices, this is designed to promote independence.
Computer Science: underlines the knowledge and skills relating to computational thinking, coding, algorithms and networks.
Information Technology: underlines the knowledge and skills relating to digital communication, creating multimedia content and data representation/handling.
Digital Literacy: underlines the knowledge and skills relating to online safety and technology in society.
We participate in annual events such as national Computing week, safer Internet day, and anti-bullying week and technology themed competitions. We invite experts to come into school for assemblies and workshops to allow children to be inspired and see how these skills can be transferred into careers.
Home Learning Links
The children at our school have access to a wide variety of resources that enable them to continue the learning of computing at home. For example; Seesaw accounts. Through this platform, the children are able to complete set tasks and save their work virtually so that it can be shared both in school and at home with teachers and parents. We also have a school Facebook and Twitter account. Here we can communicate with parents and carers to further extend lines of communication.
Computing vocabulary
At The Glebe, we aim to develop children’s working vocabulary and have a carefully mapped out computing vocabulary progression map. The children of The Glebe are excited to learn new words and take delight in being able to use them in their day to day working in the classroom and at home.
Teaching and Learning
The following is our story of Teaching and Learning with technology across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Teacher’s planning is differentiated to meet the range of needs in each class. A wide range of teaching and learning styles are employed to ensure all children are sufficiently challenged. Children may be required to work individually, in pairs or in small groups according to the nature of the task. Different outcomes may be expected depending on the ability and needs of the individual child.
Computing Science in KS1
In Key Stage 1, the children will learn about algorithms, following them and creating them. They will learn about turning algorithms into programs on digital devices including programmable robots and toys. They will create and debug simple programs (using coded animation and storytelling) and use logical reasoning to predict the outcomes and errors.
Information Technology in KS1
In Key Stage 1, the children will learn how to confidently use a range of digital devices, peripherals and apps. They will create and edit digital content, learn about files, folders, saving work and handling information. They will use a range of apps to develop computing creativity by creating and illustrating digital books, editing digital images, recording/editing videos, producing digital music and geometrical art. They will learn to collaborate, communicate, problem solving and present their knowledge using digital media. They will explore the common uses of information technology beyond school.
Digital Literacy in KS1
The children in Key Stage 1, will be exploring technology in the real world, internet safety, personal information and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies. Our teaching supports the key aims of the government’s Internet Safety Strategy (Digital Literacy) of supporting children to stay safe and make a positive contribution online, as well as enabling teachers to develop effective strategies for understanding and handling online risks. The framework has been produced by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS).
Computing Science in KS2
In Key Stage 2, the children will build on their knowledge and design skills to create and debug complex algorithms and programs, including controlling or simulating physical systems and create interactive toys. They will use a variety of programming apps, master visual programming and be introduced to text-based programming. They will use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs, use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and correct errors in algorithms and programs. They will be exploring how computer games work then develop interactive games and simple mobile apps. They will explore computational thinking at greater depth, which include algorithmic thinking, evaluation, decomposition, abstraction and generalisation. Children will be taught to understand computer networks, crack codes, how the internet works and the opportunities the web can offer for communication and collaboration. They will learn about using search technologies effectively, learn how search results are selected and ranked and how this can be manipulated.
Information Technology in KS2
In Key Stage 2, the children will learn to express their creativity by planning and creating multimedia content and in doing so learn about combining software/apps (including internet services) and media types on a range of digital devices. They will learn advanced digital skills by creating video, manipulating images, publish on the web, content for mobile devices, how to present work, data handling and collaborate on project based activities. They will learn research skills and how to be discerning in evaluating digital content. They will learn about the latest technology trends and themes, learn about digital careers and develop project management skills. They will investigate computer networks (including school network), internet services and the Web.
Digital Literacy in KS2
The children in Key Stage 2 will continue to explore at a deeper level the themes of; technology in society, internet safety, risks, personal information, help and support, digital content, digital communication, social media and a healthy balanced lifestyle. They will create online safety digital resources and learn about communication and collaboration by collectively creating content, use email, create and write online content. Our teaching supports the key aims of the government’s Internet Safety Strategy (Digital Literacy) of supporting children to stay safe and make a positive contribution online, as well as enabling teachers to develop effective strategies for understanding and handling online risks. The framework has been produced by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS).
Impact
In our Computing curriculum, the children revisit each objective several times, via different themes helping to ensure progress is achieved. We have developed ‘What to observe in learning’ grids to support the monitoring of our children’s learning expectations. A sample of the Year 3 ‘What to observe in learning’ grid can be found on the next page. Our school encourages discussions between staff and pupils to help the children best understand their progress and their next steps. We also encourage pupils to document their own learning in pupil journals. These journals are also used to showcase and celebrate computing work as well as providing evidence of the pupil’s knowledge and digital skills.
We constantly monitor to ensure the children have learnt the things we’ve taught them and if they are struggling, we can introduce additional support the next time they encounter that objective. Impact is about how we know what you do is making a difference. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress.
We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Pupil discussions and interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
- Pupil journals and assessment/feedback on content creation.
- Governor monitoring with our subject computing link governor.
- Photo evidence of the pupils’ practical learning.
- Video analysis through recording of performance or practical learning in lessons.
- Pupil self-reflection.
- A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes (progression/what to observe in learning).
- Learning walks and reflective staff feedback (teacher voice).
- Dedicated Computing leader time.
- Formative and summative approaches.
Identifying More Able Pupils in Computing
All staff have high aspirations to challenge and motivate children of all abilities. In Computing, pupils who are identified as More Able are challenged within lessons in school and are additionally offered external workshops and challenges; as well as encouraged to attend extra-curricular activities. To help identify pupils who are More Able, the following markers have been adapted:
More Able Markers to look for in Computing:
- Sees and suggests new solutions and opportunities within lessons.
- Demonstrates curiosity and resilience when using technology.
- Uses new apps/technology (hardware/software) at home to further learning.
- Uses own skills and knowledge to help support (and ‘teach’) peers.
- Uses technology to help solve problems and understands when it also creates problems.
- Considers the limitations of technology and looks for ways to overcome these limitations.
- Considers the purpose to which information is processed and communicated and how the characteristics of different kinds of information influence its use.
- Uses technology in innovative ways to support learning in other subjects.
- Understands the positive impact using technology has in supporting the learning of less able children.
- Uses skills and knowledge of Computing to design, create and ‘debug’ programs when only given a specified outcome.
- Continually refining solutions to improve work or the content they have created.
- Consider some of the social, economic and ethical issues raised by the use of technology both in and out of school.
