Acre Heads Primary School Curriculum

Computing at Acre Heads

At Acre Heads, our vision is for our pupils to be MASTERS of technology and not slaves to it. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in our pupils’ lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompasses computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. We believe that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways. We encourage staff to embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible.

The Teaching of Computing Through a Structured Process

All pupils at Acre Heads have access to a broad, balanced and enriching Computing curriculum (Teach Computing Curriculum) covering; Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy. This is done through a spiral designed scheme of work with the following key principles in mind:

Cyclical: Pupils return to the key areas again and again during their time at Acre Heads.

Increasing Depth: Each time a key area is revisited it is covered with greater complexity.

Prior Knowledge: Upon returning to each key area, prior knowledge is utilised so pupils can build upon previous foundations, rather than starting again.

This ensures that the our scheme of work identifies what pupils already know before outlining the new learning in the next stage of the learning journey. Children will use their declarative knowledge (‘knowing that’) and procedural knowledge (‘knowing how’) during each unit of work.

Where possible, Computing units are allocated into linked curriculum themes or taught as discreet areas. The planning of the Computing units ensures that knowledge builds over time and is introduced in an order that enables pupils to build their knowledge of important concepts throughout their time at Acre Heads. The Computing Long Term Plan (LTP) outlines the units to be covered by each year group. These units and associated objectives form the Scheme of Work for each year group ensuring a basis of retrieving and developing knowledge as detailed in the Computing Road Map.

Scheme of Work Structure

Lesson 1
Establishes what the children already know from previous units and introduces the end of unit aims/project if applicable.

Unit Lessons
Each lesson recaps the previous lesson objectives before introducing the objectives for that lesson. This helps remind children what they have already covered. The lessons then follow a build up of skills and knowledge contributing to their final outcomes dependent on the unit being taught. Throughout, there are various opportunities for children to have ‘hands on’ experiences to further develop their computing skills.

Summary
The Teach Computing curriculum is structured into units for each year group, and each unit is broken down into lessons. Units can generally be taught in any order, with the exception of programming, where concepts and skills rely on prior knowledge and experiences. This ‘spiral curriculum’ approach reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. The lessons often build upon skills to create a final ‘project’.

Progression of Knowledge through the Year Groups

Download full COMPUTING Learning Journey

Impact of Computing at Acre Heads

Our pupils study; Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy elements of the Computing Curriculum in depth. They are able to design, create and evaluate Algorithms. They can identify computer networks and how networks retrieve and share information. Become effective in creating media in different forms. Are effective in using data, programming and information in real world scenarios whist understanding the risks when using technology and how to be safe.

Our curriculum prepares pupils for life in a technology rich world and develops an understanding of how they can interact with technology safely. This learning knowledge will facilitate the critical and creative thinking of lifelong learning and the core values and vision of Acre Heads.