COMPUTING
INTENT
At Maltby Redwood, we want pupils to be MASTERS of technology. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in pupils' lives. We want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this.
We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education. Building our knowledge in this subject will allow pupils to effectively demonstrate their learning through creative use of technology.
We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our pupils. 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 encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. 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.
IMPLEMENTATION
A Computing session each week will be timetabled to teach discreet computing skills, however we hope to allow for a flexible approach to embed skills across the curriculum. We would recommend the 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, but not always, need a more explicit approach. That is not to say it can’t be embedded across the curriculum. A tinkering session looks at introducing a new app or tool and giving children the opportunity to experiment and familiarise themselves with the different elements and tools before it can be applied in a more focused approach across the curriculum.
Some weeks computing can be covered by using technology to demonstrate learning in other subjects.
For example: If Year 6 were covering World War 2 children could be set the task of creating a video.
Researching would involve covering some Digital Literacy: Managing Online Information -
• To know how to use search technologies effectively.
• To know how to explain how search engines work and how results are selected and ranked.
• To know how to demonstrate the strategies I would apply to be discerning in evaluating digital content.
• To know how to describe how some online information can be opinion and can offer examples.
Then create a video using an app such as Adobe Spark Video to demonstrate their learning, they would be covering some of the Information Technology: Video Creation -
• To know how to create videos using a range of media - green screen, animations, film and image.
If the pupils were to then upload or publish their work on a blog or platform such as Seesaw, we would also be covering this objective from Information Technology: Word Processing objectives.
• To know how to publish my documents online regularly and discuss the audience and purpose of my content.
Even though this would be a History lesson, we would be covering computing objectives, and therefore, we are still covering computing without having a timetabled computing session. This is the way we want computing delivered in Maltby Redwood, embedded to allow learning to be more accessible and allow learners to be more creative in demonstrating their learning.
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. 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 an 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 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 pupil’s knowledge and skills digitally through tools such as Seesaw 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.
