Intent

At Baston CE Primary School 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 in order to flourish.

We want our pupils to succeed in the 21st century workplace and we want them to know the career opportunities that will be open to them if they study computing.  We are aware that many avenues of future employment do not at this time exist! We want children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child.  Not only do we want our children to be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through computing lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience and problem-solving & critical thinking skills. 

We want our pupils 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.

 

It is our intent that computing in our school will enable our children to develop: 

• Computational thinking in all areas of our learning.
• Explore a progressive computer science curriculum that builds a strong internet safety awareness
• A good understanding of what information technology is, its forms and how it works.
• Be creative with information technology and discover the many ways we use IT, in school and in the wider world.
• Become confident to test and trial skills independently and deepen own learning through exploration. 
• To create, collaborate, persevere and tinker. 
• Use computational terminology in discussion.

Implementation

Computing is taught through the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE) scheme of learning. Each year group (ex EYFS) is given a choice of coverage from six key projects and are required to select a minimum of 4.

All units include the following key aspects of computing:

• Computing systems and networks
• Data and information
• Creating media
• Programming

Each year group has a yearly overview of the topics to be taught including the time of year when they will be taught. 

As the NCCE scheme of learning does not cover EYFS, it has been necessary to find a scheme of learning that progresses in line with KS1 and KS2. EYFS therefore follow the Barefoot scheme that teaches computational thinking through unplugged tasks. This scheme is neatly partnered with the NCCE programme taught across the rest of the school. Each term, data is collated in order to assess how well each child is achieving. Pupil interviews are undertaken to gain a better understand of how well our children are learning. 

Impact

The four strands of learning allow children to learn the basic fundamentals of IT, develop computational skills, evaluate technology to solve problems and learn to be safe and responsible when online.

Our overall curriculum ensures that when children leave Bastron CE Primary School they are competent and safe users of technologies with an understanding of how it works. They will have developed skills to express themselves and be creative in using digital media and be equipped to apply their skills in computing to different challenges going forward.

Impact will be further monitored by Curriculum Teams, SLT and the governing body through termly, whole school pupil progress checks and subject scrutiny.