Computing

Corngreaves Academy takes internet safety extremely seriously. We have an E- Safety Policy that provides guidance for teachers and children about how to use the internet safely. Our Computing and PSHE lessons in school enable children to learn the safe use of technology and the internet, allowing them to think about how they can keep themselves and others safe, being mindful of how their behaviour, words and actions can affect others. Internet safety is threaded through units, individual lessons and celebrated on Internet safety days.

The curriculum also aligns to our wider school values through our curriculum drivers: collaboration, independence and character. Through high-quality teaching resources, rich learning modules and careful planning, we aim to enhance the children’s computing capital.

We follow a broad and balanced computing curriculum that builds on previous learning and provides both support and challenge for learners. We follow a Computing scheme from Purple Mash that ensures depth and progression across the three predominant areas of computing; computer science, information technology and digital literacy.

All lessons are carefully planned to support spaced retrieval through the use of a three week rolling programme in Years 1-Year 6. Teachers use unit specific knowledge organisers which outline key knowledge and vocabulary which all children are exposed to within lessons. Low stakes quizzes will be used regular to support learners’ ability to block learning and increase space in the working memory. Each lesson, in all year groups, follows a lesson structure designed to: support the transferral of knowledge from the working memory to the long term memory; provide opportunities for children to become immersed in the learning; share worked examples; foster a culture where children have the opportunity to work collaboratively then independently; provide consistency and ensure appropriate coverage.

We are an inclusive school, and strive to ensure our curriculum is accessible to all. Learning is a right and must meet the needs of each pupil. The pupils who have been identified as having a SEND need, will be planned for appropriately by the class teacher under the guidance and advice of the SENCo and/or additional agencies. Dependent on the pupils’ need, this may be through adult support, scaffolds or adapted tasks. In cases where a pupil has an EHCP, bespoke provision appropriate to the needs of the pupil and their continuum requirements will be planned.

As a school, we follow Rosenshine’s Priniples of Instruction and Cognitive Load Theory to provide lessons that are engaging and manageable to ensure sticks. Teachers implement these strategies in every lesson and this consistent approach supports the teaching of Computing at each stage and in all year groups. 

• Daily, through Wave 1 teaching (questioning, independent opportunities to practise skills, low stake testing etc).

• Weekly, through pupils’ oral and written responses (on Class Blog Pages and tracked on teacher wider assessment sheets)

At our school, we believe all our pupils have the potential to succeed. Our children will leave us having been immersed in a whole school curriculum that values technology and the role it plays in day to day life. At Corngreaves we aim to provide a computing curriculum that enables all children to showcase the very best of their abilities, through the use of  monitoring, blog studies and pupil conferencing we are able to assess the impact of our computing curriculum. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:   

• A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes   

• Children can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation. 

• Children can analyse problems in computational terms and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems. 

• Children can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems. 

• Children are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.   

• Tracking of gains in each quiz. 

• Pupil discussions about their learning.