cOMPUTING
Here at Norristhorpe we have created Computing curriculum that equips our pupils to embrace, manipulate and experiment with technology to ensure they are prepared to face the technological challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.
Subject Overview
What do we want our children to learn in Computing?
Please click to view our Progression of Knowledge and Skills in Computing. This shows what we want our children to know and learn in Computing at Norristhorpe.
Computing Club
Our after school Computer Coding club is run by Global Computing Solutions and is very popular!
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INTENT
Our curriculum at Norristhorpe focuses on three core strands:
Our Computer Science learning has a strong focus on developing life-long computational thinking skills, with pupils having an opportunity to develop logical reasoning, debugging, tinkering and evaluation using a wide variety of different programmes and contexts, and are encouraged to apply these transferrable skills across their learning. Pupils demonstrate resilience to develop their own open ended code to complete meaningful task driven exercises, independently and in collaboration with others. They develop their understanding of key concepts in ‘unplugged’ activities and progress to transfer the knowledge to different physical and simulated systems.
Pupils contribute their Information Technology skills throughout the curriculum, again with a focus on developing meaningful IT skills that prepare them for the expectations of secondary education and beyond, including identifying and explicitly teaching the core 'Norristhorpe IT Skills' to make our pupils skillful and sucessful manipulators of technology. Pupils express themselves creatively and articulately through their use of a range of devices and applications to design, present and analyse. They use and combine a range of software and learn multiple solutions to solve a task to ensure they have a strong foundation across different platforms and are prepared to engage with emerging technologies.
Our digital literacy strategy is sequenced to ensure that our young people understand the online world around them and are prepared to be safe, effective and responsible digital citizens. Pupils identify the key components of the digital world and understand the principles behind them. They learn how to manage their self-image and identity and understand how they can foster positive communications in the future. They are aware of potential fraudulent activity and other scams and understand how to manage their own security and privacy settings. Pupils understand their rights and the rights of others in the online world, including the importance of copyright and attribution.
IMPLEMENTATION
Technology is a constantly evolving medium, where profecciency in one programme, application or coding language may not translate well to emerging uses without understanding the similarities between different processess. Consequently, we use a variety of different resources to create our curriculum; this insures pupils can progress with key concepts in Computing and Information Technology and apply these to different programmes and situations appropriately, reinforcing and deepening earning from one coding language or programme by applying it in new ways.
We use Purple Mash coding across both key stages; this scheme of work for coding supports the progression of core skills across the curriculum and enables pupils to learn key skills through the PRIMM model as well as discrete sessions. We also use Purple Mash across information technology, particularly in Key Stage 1 where its simpler programmes support the understanding of key concepts which can be progressed with more complex programmes later in the curriculum
We complement our curriculum, particularly in KS2 with Barefoot Computing resources – this ensures pupils have a better understanding of computational thinking and key computer terminology and can apply these in more ‘unplugged’ activities – strengthening their application of prior learning and allowing them to make progress. We also use more bespoke coding activities such as our use of Microbit to widen our pupils’ access to managing physical systems and making computer science more parictical.
Pupils explain how they have adapted code to create meaningful programmes for BBC micro:bit
We also use resources from the National Centre for Computing Education; these resources enable good progression in Information Technology, are linked to the CPD teachers have undertaken and provide more meaningful content than other resources, particularly with understanding data.
Our curriculum also places a specific identification of the core IT skills to support pupils with mastering technology across a range of subjects, including identifying key skills in using office and similar applications. This focus ensure pupils develop the core computer skills to progress in secondary education and beyond.
Year 5 applying their HTML and CSS Skills to create a digital storyboard.
In Digital Literacy, we ensure our curriculum meets the framework for Education for a Connected World. This is any aware of rapid change and we try to ensure that our specific modules are relevant to the emerging needs of pupils. We use the CEOP resources Jessie and Friends and Play Like Share to ensure pupils have a developing understanding of Online Safety. We support our Digital Literacy understanding through Be Internet Legends, which supports pupils progression through Years 4-6 and a revised focus on meeting the DCMS Online Media Literacy Strategy, and SWGFL modules and more bespoke modules, which support with meeting Education for a Connected World
.A special Be Internet Legends for Norristhorpe School with Google - with pupils learning to Be Internet Kind, Sharp, Secure, Alert and Brave
IMPACT
The impact of our computing curriculum is evidenced in how our pupils engage with and critique their use of technology as they progress through school. Regular opportunities for pupils to talk to practitoners and their peers will demonstrate their increased sophistication in understanding applying computer science, information technology and digital literacy concepts across Computing and the wider Norristhorpe curriculum. Pupil's achievements show a greater ownership of the process of creating, debugging and evaluating, evidenced in the outcomes of pupils work and their rationales for their conent. Digital tools such as Kahoot further support how we check pupils understanding of core component knowledge across all strands of computing.
Lessons from different year groups are visited by the curriculum coordinator to evaluate the progress pupils make in computing. These include monitoring the progression pupils are making between different stages of their learning, ensuring resources and pedagogical approaches are appropriate and well used, understand pupils’ use of key terminology and computational thinking and identify opportunities to share best practice.
Pupil voice is used to evaluate to progress pupils are making and how they can apply their previous knowledge.
Digital mini-assessment results, for example Kahoot, is monitored to evaluate any gaps in learning to inform future planning and opportunities for development.
Examples of work are collected digitally or scanned, with annotations to identify how they meet the expected or greater depth standard to demonstrate pupils’ understanding and exemplify expected practice.
Pupils explaining to the Subject Coordinator how they are creating a PowerPoint presentation.