LHPS Computing Curriculum Design

Guiding Principles

We want our children to Appreciate, Aspire and Achieve. We are committed to delivering a high-quality computing curriculum which has been designed to enable children to use computational thinking and creativity to further understand our world. We aspire to develop the appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding as set out in the National Curriculum and beyond, so that children can flourish and fulfill their potential. It aims to develop the behaviours learners need to succeed in the world such as concentration, perseverance, imagination, co-operation, the enjoyment of learning, self-improvement and curiosity.

Core Beliefs

Appreciate

Aspire

Achieve

A curriculum that develops every child’s ability to appreciate, care, respect and understand themselves, others and the world in which they live. A curriculum that also ensures that every child feels valued and cared for.

A curriculum that provides a range of opportunities, designed to empower every child to ‘dream big’ and develop a sense of what is possible for them to achieve now and in their future lives.

A curriculum that ensures all children have the skills, knowledge, attitude and social understanding to achieve in all aspects of their lives and equip them to become active and engaged citizens.

Curriculum Approach

Our mastery approach to lesson design is based upon our strong knowledge of pedagogy and our understanding of our children’s needs. This ensures that each lesson maximises both learning and our core beliefs of Appreciate, Aspire and Achieve.

Lessons are expertly designed to develop mastery in Computing. Children are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, children are equipped to use information technology to create programmes, systems and a range of content.

Children are given the opportunity to explore and respond to key issues such as digital communication, cyberbullying, online safety, security, plagiarism and social media.

Computing has deep links throughout school with mathematics, science and design and technology and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems.

Planning 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.

Computing at Lunt’s Heath ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

Effective questioning is a crucial component of all our lessons. Key questions are planned to encourage children to think about their learning, to reflect upon previous learning and to make connections between new and existing knowledge. We also encourage them to build upon their peers’ understanding.

We encourage adults and children to use both rich language and precise vocabulary linked to the subject area that they are studying so that they can better understand it and can then use this when reasoning, articulating and making generalisations.

Children have access to a range of resources aiding the acquisition of skills and knowledge which includes the hardware and software that they need to develop knowledge and skills of digital systems and their applications.

Children are involved in unplugged lessons, where lessons are designed to give children the foundation knowledge and teach them key vocabulary, without using technology. This is a way to ensure that key skills and information are not diluted through the instant desire to use technology.

We provide high quality professional development to ensure that we are always improving the quality of our teaching so that this impacts upon children’s learning. All our teachers have deep subject knowledge and thorough knowledge of how to teach Computing. They engage in collaborative planning and are continually seeking to improve their effectiveness.

Impact

Children’s knowledge, understanding and progress across all subject areas as well as their desire and ability to learn will be measured using a range of qualitative and quantitative strategies including: information from book scrutiny, performance data measured from starting point, lesson observations, drop ins, all stakeholder voice, collaborative research, use of external critical friends and self / peer evaluation.

By the time a pupil leaves Lunt’s Heath Primary School in Year 6, they will have developed themselves as masters of technology as well as acquiring key life skills such as problem-solving, logical thinking and self-evaluation. Children will also have an appreciation of the consequences of using the internet and an awareness of how to keep themselves safe online.