Computing
"I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user."
Bill Gates
Our Intent
At West Bretton, we aim for our children to confidently and independently use and apply information technology skills to support and extend their learning. It is our belief that technology is everywhere and will play a significant part in students' lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and most importantly…safely; The key principles of internet safety are deeply woven into our curriculum.
For our children to participate effectively and safely in the digital world beyond our gates we must enable them to become computational thinkers. We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology (especially social media such as Twitter @WestBrettonJI and Class DoJo) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology and social media is through education.
In addition to discrete subject teaching of specific computing skills we endeavour to use IT to support, enhance and enrich the whole school curriculum not only standing alone but woven into an integral part of all learning. In the modern world, computing has become a significant part of everyone’s daily life and children should be at the forefront of new technology, leaving us with a thirst for learning what is out there. We are ensuring that our children are provided with transferrable skills and are ready and able to embrace the technological advances of the future.
As Computer Scientists, we want our children to acquire a wide range of computing skills and strategies to enable them to become skilled informational technologists, computer scientists and digital literacy experts. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils become skilful computer scientists. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.
Our Implementation
We use the @ICT with Mr P document created by Lee Parkinson. It is a comprehensive progression document for staff to follow to best embed and cover every element of the computing curriculum. The knowledge and skills statements build year on year to deepen and challenge our learners.
As with most of the ideas on MrPICT.com, we feel the majority of computing should be embedded across the curriculum. We do have allocated computer time for all classes each week, but we follow this approach for flexibility. We are also lucky enough to have half class sets of ipads which are of great use to all classes. We use a timetabled computing session to focus on one of three elements: An Explicit Computer Science lesson, A Tinkering Session or a D.A.R.E.S project. The computer science part of the computing curriculum will often need a more explicit approach, but where we can we try to embed it across the curriculum.
All introductory DARES projects or computing sessions allow for a tinkering session where we look at introducing a new app or tool and give our children an opportunity to experiment and familiarise themselves with the different elements and tools before applying in a more focused approach across the curriculum.
Some weeks of computing can be covered by using technology to demonstrate learning in other subjects. We do a lot of this through our humanities and Art curriculum.
Following this approach and having it embedded allows learning to be more accessible and allow learners to be more creative in demonstrating their learning.
Our Impact
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. This allows our children to lead our ICT development and share their knowledge with us. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and wellbeing.
Finding the right balance with technology is key to effective education and a healthy lifestyle. We feel the way we implement computing helps children realise the need for the right balance and one they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond. We consistently discuss safety and our children and parents have a good understanding of how to stay safe in a digital world. We encourage regular discussions between staff and pupils to best embed and understand this.
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 digitally through tools and observing learning regularly.
Progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes.
