Mereside Academy

Computing and E-Safety

Intent

At Mereside CE Primary Academy, we aim to provide a high-quality computing education that prepares our children to become socially responsible and active participants in an ever-changing digital world. Our computing curriculum fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum and the Education for a Connected World framework and focuses on a progression of skills in computer science, information technology, digital literacy and online safety. We recognise that computing has strong links with other areas of the curriculum; we endeavour to use technology to enrich many areas of our curriculum. 

Our computing curriculum will enable children to become digitally literate and competent users of technology who have a good understanding of themselves as individuals within their community as well as members of a wider community and as responsible digital citizens. Our pupils will develop a good understanding of their digital footprint; they will understand how to communicate effectively using technology and they will recognise the importance of being compassionate and caring of others within a digital world. Computing sessions will inspire, motivate and challenge children; they will allow children to develop their creativity, resilience, problem solving and critical thinking skills. Our children will recognise that technology is exciting as it is ever-evolving; they will develop passion and a thirst for knowledge, recognising that they have the potential to impact on the future digital world.

National Curriculum Computer Science Aims:

• All pupils can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation.
• All pupils can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems.

National Curriculum Information Technology Aim:

• All pupils can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems.

National Curriculum Digital Literacy Aim:

• ­All pupils are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Education for a Connected World Framework Aim:

Through using this framework, we aim to educate our pupils to live knowledgeably, responsibly and safely in a digital world.

We will focus on eight different aspects of online education:

1. Self-image and Identity
2. Online relationships
3. Online reputation
4. Online bullying
5. Managing online information
6. Health, wellbeing and lifestyle
7. Privacy and security
8. Copyright and ownership

Implementation

At Mereside CE Primary Academy, we follow ‘The Teach Computing Curriculum’. This curriculum was developed by ‘The National Centre for Computing Education’ (NCCE) and funded by the ‘Department for Education’.

‘The Teach Computing Curriculum’ builds on a set of pedagogical principles, which are underpinned by the latest computing research, to demonstrate effective pedagogical strategies throughout. To remain up-to-date as research continues to develop, every aspect of the ‘Teach Computing Curriculum’ is reviewed each year and changes are made as necessary. The NCCE’s pedagogical approach consists of 12 key principles: lead with concepts; structure lessons; make concrete; unplug, unpack, repack; work together; read and explore code first; create projects; model everything; get hands-on; challenge misconceptions; add variety and foster program comprehension. Each principle has been shown to contribute to effective teaching and learning in computing.

‘The Teach Computing Curriculum’ is structured into units and the units for key stages 1 and 2 are based on a spiral curriculum. This means that each of the themes is revisited regularly (at least once in each year group), and pupils revisit each theme through a new unit that consolidates and builds on prior learning within that theme. This style of curriculum design reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. It also ensures that connections are made even if different teachers are teaching the units within a theme in consecutive years. The units covered in KS1 and KS2 are: computing systems and networks; creating media; programming A; data and information; creating media and programming B. Each unit has links to the national curriculum and the Education for a Connected World framework.

‘The Teach Computing Curriculum’ has been written to support all pupils. Each lesson is sequenced so that it builds on the learning from the previous lesson, and where appropriate, activities are scaffolded so that all pupils can succeed and thrive. Scaffolded activities provide pupils with extra resources, such as visual prompts, to reach the same learning goals as the rest of the class. Exploratory tasks foster a deeper understanding of a concept, encouraging pupils to apply their learning in different contexts and make connections with other learning experiences.

‘The Teach Computing Curriculum’ provides children with opportunities to experience and use a range of digital tools and devices.

Impact

Our Computing curriculum is high quality, well-thought-out and is planned to demonstrate progression. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Formative assessment within lessons; these vary from teacher observation or questioning to marked activities.
• Summative assessment at the end of every unit. This will usually be in the form of a multiple choice quiz or a rubic.

Our assessment methods involve us reflecting on the following questions based on the national curriculum aims:

• Can children understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation?
• Can children analyse problems in computational terms?
• Can children write computer programs in order to meet a given criterion?
• Can children evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies analytically to solve problems?
• Are children responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology?

We also reflect on the eight different aspects of online education that are outlined in the Education for a Connected World framework.

Computing at Home

Barefoot Computing - activities, missions and games

UK Safer Internet Centre - online safety activities and resources

BBC Bitesize KS1

BBC Bitesize KS2

Dr Chips Weekly Computing Ideas

Computer Science Unplugged

Blockly Games

Scratch - including a parent guide

Think Fun Coding Activities

ThinkuKnow - online safety information and games