Computing – Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

WDPS Vision Statement

At WDPS, we believe that when children are given the opportunity to foster a love of challenge, adventure and creativity in and beyond the classroom - developing skills that will equip them for all walks of life - they will become life-long learners with resilience, passion and a thirst for knowledge

Intent

At West Denton Primary School (WDPS) we believe our children are entitled to develop their skills and knowledge about computers and how they can be used in ’real’ life safely and effectively.  We put a hue emphasis on e-safety, ensuring the children are equipped for the digital age.  Our computing curriculum allows children to use a wide range of programs and develop skills in various areas of computing. Through their understanding of the computing, our children will become resilient, problem solvers, enquirers, knowledgeable and become confident in the safe use of technology. This will ensure they adapt and thrive as they grow. They will be better prepared to embrace the ever-changing digital world around them.

Academic Commitment

Our high quality computing education supports our pupils in understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions. Create and debug simple programs. Use logical reasoning to predict the behavior of simple programs.  Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content. Recognise common uses of information technology beyond school Use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.

The computing curriculum is planned to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum.  The curriculum is planned on a two year rolling program to accommodate our mixed age classes. Progression is seen through the computing skills and computer science through the organisation of the units, there is also cohesion between Phases, allowing the children to develop and build on their previous knowledge and apply it further.  The biggest element of all our computing is e-safety where Children learn to use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. They recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour and identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.

Lifelong Learners

At WDPS we have created an exciting computing curriculum through the use of a safe and contained online platform that will develop a thirst for learning, knowledge and curiosity in our children. The curriculum is enhanced with relevant units of work that cover a wide range of computing areas and access to equipment to ensure a seamless delivery of lessons.

Enquiry-based Learning Curriculum

At WDPS each unit is an enquiry. This enquiry-based approach gives our children ownership of their learning and encourages them to be investigators, gaining knowledge for themselves and developing their thinking skills.

WDPS Core Values- Positive Contributors and Citizens

Through our Computing curriculum children will be inspired to use a range of skills and concepts in the modern computing world, including a range of programming elements for both KS1 and KS2. The units incorporate key knowledge and understanding to ensure preparation for using technology devices safely and responsibly.

Units involve the use of up to date software, enabling children to combine common office skills with writing algorithms and using logical reasoning for a primary introduction to computer science.  All this combined will ensure the children are enquirers by asking questions and carrying the love of this learning through life, thinkers by solving problems and learning from their mistakes and are knowledge of computing and computing science.

Implementation

We adopt a hands on approach to learning and teaching in computing which develops our pupils as computer scientist.  Through this approach, our pupils not only build subject knowledge and understanding, but they become increasingly adept at critical thinking, using specialised vocabulary and grasping subject concepts.   We structure learning in computing through progression of units from each year to build upon knowledge and create a deeper understanding. 

Our curriculum is therefore ‘skills rich’ as we recognise that these are needed to develop a deeper understanding of the key aspects.   Without these important skills ‘built up’ the children would find it difficult to progress and cement a more concrete understanding of such a complex and deep subject area.

Our learning and teaching in computing is interactive and practical allowing opportunities for pupils to work independently and in pairs.  The Computing facilities we provide allow children to work either in the classroom, on iPads or in our specialist ICT suite.  We use an up to date computing scheme, which cover all key aspects of the national curriculum (looking at computer science, information technology and digital literacy).

Our aim in computing is to provide an exciting, rich, relevant and challenging Computing curriculum for all pupils. We teach pupils to become responsible, respectful and competent users of data, information and communication technology. We also provide technology solutions for forging better home and school links. Though this we hope to enthuse and equip children with the capability to use technology throughout their lives, teaching pupils to understand the importance of governance and legislation regarding how information is used, stored, created, retrieved, shared and manipulated.  We do all this by giving children access to a variety of high quality hardware, software and unplugged resources.  This allows pupils to be equipped with skills, strategies and knowledge that will enable them to reap the benefits of the online world, whilst being able to minimise risk to themselves or others.  Most importantly we aim to exceed the minimum government recommended/statutory guidance for programmes of study for Computing and other related legislative guidance (online safety).

Through our skills progression of computing, the children build upon what they develop in previous years to ensure their understanding of the computing curriculum and computing in the wider world is fully cemented and they are ready to safely meet ‘tackle’ secondary school. 

Impact

At the end of each unit of work, we make a summative judgement about the achievement of each pupil and input these into the WDPS Foundation Subjects Tracker.  At this point teachers decide upon a ‘best fit’ judgement as to whether the pupil has achieved and embedded the expected learning goals, exceeded expectations or is still working towards the goals.  These decisions are based on the professional knowledge and judgement that teachers possess about the progress of each pupil, developed over the previous three terms, which allows an informed and holistic judgement of attainment to be made.   Achievement against the learning goals for history at the end of the year is used as the basis of reporting progress to parents and carers.