Computing

Intent – What is the purpose of our Computing curriculum?

At Tranmere Park, we teach a broad and balanced computing curriculum which inspires all pupils to fulfil their potential, becoming active participants in an increasingly digital world. Our aim is to equip children to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. At the core of our computing curriculum are three key strands of learning, in which pupils are taught the principles of computer science, computer hardware and digital literacy (including internet safety). We intend for our children to develop their knowledge and skills in these strands to progress confidently through the curriculum, reflecting the understanding necessary to bolster their cultural capital and seize opportunities beyond school and in the future workplace.

Our Children will:

Our Teachers will:

• Largely progress through the curriculum at the same pace and differentiation will be achieved by emphasising a deep knowledge through individual support and intervention. • Be intrinsically motivated – they are eager to build on their existing skills and understanding. • Be resilient to mistakes and persevere when faced with a challenge; they are able to problem solve and find a variety of solutions. • Possess highly positive attitudes towards the subject and will be aspirational in their goals. • Understand the integral role technology plays in their lives and be able to talk meaningfully about what they are learning. • Have a concrete understanding of how to stay safe online and know what to do if they find inappropriate material. • Ask inquisitive questions, pose ideas and eagerly tackle tricky problems related to computer science. • Understand and apply the essential concepts of Computer Science, including: logic, algorithms and data representation. • Communicate ideas well, utilising appliances and devices throughout all areas of the curriculum.

• Provide a progressive and challenging curriculum which is sequenced to ensure that new and personalised knowledge is taught in each lesson. • Identify gaps in understanding and swiftly overcome these with precise teaching. • Provide a rich curriculum taught through a variety of themes which inspires pupils to engage with technology beyond school. • Provide opportunities for our children to: think logically, structure their work in a systematic way, pursue a line of enquiry and to work collaboratively thus fostering an awareness of, and an enthusiasm for computing as a life skill. • Teach from a high-quality scheme of work, supporting and developing their own subject knowledge. • Teach our pupils how to analyse problems in computational terms and allow for repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems. • Teach our children to evaluate and apply information technology analytically to solve problems.

 

Implementation – How do we do it?

The Learning Journey

Computing, when taught well, prepares children for life in the present and the future. By providing our children with the skills of: reading, writing and analysing code, utilising a range of software and technology and understanding computation systems and logical thinking, we are preparing them for future employment.
We build pupils’ awareness to the risks which they may be exposed, so that they have the confidence and understanding to seek advice and to deal with any risks in an appropriate manner, thus enjoying the benefits that technology can provide us with safely, successfully and skilfully.
To ensure coverage, Computing is timetabled and blocked, ensuring that the children develop a depth in their knowledge and skills. The powerful knowledge expected at the end of each stage, is mapped carefully and progressively through school allowing a balanced coverage. Please see this progression below:

Year 1

Children are taught to:·

Use computers purposefully, learning how to login and navigate around a computer, develop their mouse skills, learn how to drag, drop, click and control their cursor.
·  Programme Bee-Bots and to relate algorithms, decomposition and debugging to familiar contexts.
·  Use a range of editing tools.
·  Identify data and the different ways that it can be represented.
·  Develop their computational skills through sequencing and debugging a set of instructions.

Year 2

Children are taught to:

·  Identify and learn how inputs and outputs work, and how computers are used in the wider world.
·  Word process and learn how to stay safe online as well developing their typing skills.
·  Use keyboard shortcuts, as well as simple editing tools within a word processor including: bold, italics, underline and font colour as well as how to import images.
·  Use the app ‘ScratchJr,’ to explore what ‘blocks’ do by carrying out an informative cycle of predict > test > review.
·  Decompose information.

Year 3

Children are taught to:

· Identify how devices communicate and how information is shared, whilst deepening their understanding by exploring examples of real-world networks.
· Explore the internet and learn how data is transferred around the world, and how we can interact with different websites.
· Send emails with attachments and be responsible digital citizens by thinking about the contents of what they send.
· Identify cyberbullying and how to avoid being unkind online.
· Build on their use of the App ‘ScratchJr’ in Year 2, to use the more advanced computer-based application, carrying out an informative cycle of predict > test > review, learning to use repetition or ‘loops’.
· Develop their digital video skills.

Year 4

Children are taught to:

· Use variables in code scripts.
· Develop their research, word processing, and collaborative working skills whilst learning how web pages and web sites are created, exploring how to change layouts, embed images and videos and link between pages.
· Become familiar with HTML tags, changing HTML and CSS code to alter images and ‘remixing’ a website’s text and images.
· Use a range of collaborative tools including Google Docs, Slides, Forms and Sheets.
· Use the four skill areas needed to solve problems effectively: abstraction, algorithm design, decomposition and pattern recognition.

Year 5

Children are taught to:

· Write, design, film and edit stop motion animations for younger children to educate them about the potential dangers associated with online content.
· Create algorithms and programs that are used in the real world.
· Use key words and phrases, to identify inaccurate information, how PageRank works as well as how to credit sources appropriately.
· Understand how messages can be sent using binary, calculate binary addition and represent binary as text.
· Examine one of the most useful types of data – images – and learn how to reduce the file size so that it can be sent quickly.

Year 6

Children are taught to:

· Understand the history of code breaking and password hacking.
· Understand how computers have evolved from being larger than a room to fitting into the palm of your hand.
· Use the programming language ‘Python’
· Create loops and nested loops to make their code more efficient, while becoming more familiar with this text-based programming language.
· Identify how barcodes and QR codes work.
· Understand how infrared waves are used for the transmission of data while recognising the uses of RFID, as well as gathering, analysing and evaluating data collected from RFID data collection points.
· Explore the potential dangers of big data.

Assessment

·Short-term assessments aim to assess the children’s learning informally on a lesson by lesson basis and are key to our curriculum. These could include observations of groups, analysis of whole class and oral feedback.

·Medium-term assessments are completed at the end of a half-term and individual pupil results are recorded in assessment files as working below, working at or working above the nationally expected standard for the unit taught.

·Long-term assessments assess our children against national expectations. These are also used to provide extra information about individual children’s attainment and progress so that the teacher can report to the next teacher and the child’s parent. Furthermore, data will be used by SLT to brief the governing body, the staff and the LEA on overall progress towards the school’s end of year targets. Computing data is recorded (working below/at/ above the nationally expected standard) through O-Track at the end of the academic year.

Monitoring

There is an ongoing cycle of subject monitoring at Tranmere Park. The subject leader will be allocated a block of time during the academic year to monitor the subject across the phases linked to the whole school development priorities. This will focus on Computing specific teaching and learning with reference to how we teach Computing (see above) and may include: classroom observations, talking to children and adults, scrutinising children’s work and evidence of first-hand experiences. Results of monitoring inform the subject leader’s action plan.

Impact – What knowledge and skills are obtained?

At Tranmere Park, every pupil will:

Further to the above, our Curriculum, at Tranmere Park, is designed to ensure that each child is a confident and successful learner who demonstrates our core values:

•Be given equal opportunities to fulfil their potential, irrespective of ethnicity, culture, class, gender or special educational needs.
• Complete each key stage with high proficiency in each aspect of Computing.
• Believe that they are good at Computing and will have the resilience required to take part in all elements of the Computing curriculum.
• Develop their understanding and skills in Computing, creating a range of digital content and programmes.
• Become confident, competent and safe users of modern technology.
• Be equipped with experiences that have fully prepared them for Secondary School, further education and the future workplace.

The Team Tranmere Way
Be Yourself		Be Your Best		Be Team Tranmere
Our children will learn to like who they are; they respect themselves and live their lives in their own way, regardless of the opinions of others.		Our children ‘give it everything they have got’ to achieve their full potential across the curriculum.		Our children are a part of a community and have respect for the resources and people in it and that surround it.
Our Learning Values and Behaviours
Self-Manager	Effective Participator	Independent Enquirer	Team Worker	Resourceful Thinker	Reflective Learner
Our children set their own goals and manage their own time, motivation and concentration.	Our children participate in lessons and persuade and encourage others to do so.	Our children set goals for their research with clear success criteria.	Our children understand that we are stronger together and implement this.	Our children are problem-solvers who can adapt to new or difficult situations.	Our children critically analyse their work ensuring future improvements.