Computing prepares pupils to participate in a digital world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technology. Pupils use ICT tools to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information responsibly, creatively and without discrimination. We believe that all children should be given opportunities to engage in a broad computing curriculum that ensures they are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. We are well-equipped with IT infrastructure including laptop trollies, ipads and interactive whiteboards in all classrooms.

Curriculum Statement for Computing

Intent - What do we want to achieve in Computing teaching and learning?

Through our computing curriculum at St Laurence, we aim to give our pupils the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way. We want to equip our pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world, whilst providing them with the skills to be able to operate in the 21st century workplace and to know the career opportunities that will be open to them if they study computing.

We want our children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. Not only do we want them to be digitally literate and competent users of technology, but, through our computer science lessons, we want them to develop creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills by learning how to be ‘computational thinkers’.

Also through computing, we want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and we aim for our pupils to have a breadth of experience that ensures that our curriculum is accessible to every child and allows them to develop as independent, confident, successful learners with high aspirations who are prepared to be successful in their future lives and who know how and are willing to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society.

Implementation - How do we plan and teach Computing?

At St Laurence, we follow a broad and balanced Computing curriculum that builds on previous learning and provides both support and challenge for learners.

Computing teaching at St Laurence delivers the requirements of the National Curriculum through half-termly units, which ensures children are able to develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their computing topics. Teachers use the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) ‘Teach Computing’ Curriculum as a starting point for the planning of their computing lessons, which are often richly linked to engaging contexts in other subjects and topics. Knowledge and skills are mapped across each topic and year group to ensure systematic progression.

We have a 2 laptop trolleys and two iPad trolleys as well as access to laptops in the classroom to ensure that all classes have the opportunity to use a range of devices and programs for many purposes across the wider curriculum, as well as in discrete computing lessons.

The implementation of the curriculum also ensures a balanced coverage of computer science, information technology and digital literacy. The children will have experiences of all three strands in each class, but the subject knowledge imparted becomes increasingly specific and in depth, with more complex skills being taught, thus ensuring that learning is built upon. For example, children in Key Stage 1 learn what algorithms are, which leads them to the design stage of programming in Key Stage 2, where they design, write and debug programs, explaining the thinking behind their algorithms.

Impact - What are the Computing learning outcomes for our pupils and how do we know?

We encourage our children to enjoy and value the curriculum we deliver. We will constantly ask the WHY behind their learning and not just the HOW. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and well-being.

The way pupils showcase, share, celebrate and publish their work will best show the impact of our curriculum. We also look for evidence through reviewing pupils’ knowledge and skills and the progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes.

Much of the subject-specific knowledge developed in our computing lessons equip pupils with experiences which will benefit them in secondary school, further education and future workplaces.

At St Laurence, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Learning walks
• Reflective discussions with staff (teacher voice)
• Pupil discussions/interviews with pupils about their learning (pupil voice)
• Monitoring of portfolios of evidence (pupils’ learning)
• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes (including monitoring assessment outcomes)
• Examining plans to ensure full coverage of the computing and cross-curricular ICT requirements