Computing
Intent
National Centre of Computing Education provides a computing curriculum that is ambitious and designed for all pupils. It is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively providing the necessary knowledge and skills for the pupils’ future to empower them to take their role as future coders and app designers. It emphasizes the role of teamwork and collaborative creations to build to a final outcome and comes with suggestions for differentiated approaches to teaching. The children build on knowledge centered around a theme and revisits commonly used learning tools, such as Scratch to build a spiral curriculum. It provides concrete and abstract methods of teaching; the children are not always sat at a computer as they sometimes have physical tasks to complete related to the topic. Following the scheme will ensure pupils benefit from a curriculum that prepares them for a future where computers are at the heart of most employment opportunities and gives them the tools they need to be able to succeed in a future that is unknown.
Implementation
National Centre of Computing Education is designed to be delivered by non-specialists, with core computing knowledge identified and explained throughout. The lesson plans come with subject knowledge and videos for anyone less confident in using and teaching computers. The lessons, provided by the class teacher, will be 1 hour in length. A breadth of teaching approaches appropriate to the content and desired learning outcomes are used to engage all pupils and enable them to not just acquire knowledge but to apply it in meaningful contexts. The lesson plans also come with suggested adaptive teaching opportunities to allow all children to achieve the same outcome, but at different levels. Revisiting software and skills in different, more challenging, contexts in later units. It also provides suggestions of how to assess the children’s learning. Quality resources and materials are provided online to support the computing curriculum and are sequenced towards the accumulation of skills, knowledge and understanding, working towards the next key stage.
Impact
The impact of National Centre of Computing Education is evidenced through the pupils’ use and implementation of key computing skills and their understanding of vocabulary and key terms. It is evidenced by the use and outcomes of the varied activities, assessments and quizzes provided. The broad range of approaches for pupils to communicate their knowledge ensures that everyone can demonstrate progression and impact. In particular, it is evidenced by the pupils’ ability, willingness and confidence in using the key computing skill independently and with purpose. Pupils are offered opportunities to understand how computing skills will be key to attaining future job roles and specialisms.
Curriculum Progression Map: Foundation Subjects