Thirsk Community Primary School

Learning

Mission Statement, Vision and Values

Curriculum

EYFS (including Nursery)

Inclusion

Promoting Fundamental British Values

Assessment and Age Related Expectations

Computing Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

It is our intention to enable children to be ‘thinking users’ of technology. To use ICT as one of a range of tools, choosing it when it is the most appropriate way of achieving a desired outcome. To be able to choose appropriate resources (hardware/software/apps/websites) to create, investigate, add to, amend, analyse, and present/publish projects with increasing independence, to show digital literacy. Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this.

We would like our children to be fully aware of online safety issues (including cyberbullying) and the responsible use of their own personal information and that of others.

We strive to develop within children the perseverance and resilience needed to be able to design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals. Also to be able to evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems.

We want our pupils to be creators not consumers.
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) 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.
We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible.

Implementation

We use a clear and effective Scheme of Work that provides coverage in line with the National Curriculum.
Computing is taught using a blocked curriculum approach, primarily in our ICT Suite, that ensures children can develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their computing topics.
Knowledge and skills are mapped across each topic and year group to ensure systematic progression. 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 year group, 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

Children will be confident users of technology, able to use it to accomplish a wide variety of goals, both at home and in school.
Children will have a secure and comprehensive knowledge of the implications of technology and digital systems. This is important in a society where technologies and trends are rapidly evolving.

We measure the impact of our curriculum using the following methods:
· Reviewing and assessing children’s work saved into their individual accounts
· Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).
· Reporting of standards across the curriculum.