Computing
Computing Champion: Mr Steer
My name is Mr Steer and I am the computing champion at Fairmeadows. I have always had a passion and love for computing which lasted throughout my school life and into A levels. In the ever developing world we live in, I believe that computing is a vital subject for all children of all ages and will be a lifelong skill the children will continue to build on throughout their school life. Who knows, we may have some future game developers and coders in the making!
Visions:
At Fairmeadows Foundation Primary we believe that computing is an essential part of the national curriculum. Computing is an integral part of modern day life and therefore provides a wealth of learning opportunities and experiences, explicitly within computing and also across other curriculum subjects.
Computers have become a part of everyday life. For most of us, technology is essential to our daily lives, at home and at work. ‘Computational Thinking’ is a concept children must be taught in order to provide them with essential experiences that will enable them to participate effectively in the digital world.
At Fairmeadows we ensure that are children are safe and responsible when online therefore E safety is taught throughout all aspects of the computing curriculum. It is repeated and developed to ensure a deeper understanding of how it affects them and others in a digital world through stand-alone sessions, collective worships, PSHE sessions and school wide and national initiatives such as Safer Internet Day.
Aims and Goals:
The national curriculum defines three clear aspects of computing curriculum: Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT) and Digital Literacy (DL). Children will be given the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding in each area from the Foundation Stage to Year 6.
“The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils 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, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also 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.”
Computing in the Primary Curriculum – A Guide for Primary school Teachers by CAS NAACE
Curriculum:
At Fairmeadows, we use the D.A.R.E.S. scheme of learning in order to achieve the aims of the national curriculum.
D.A.R.E.S is an innovative approach to teaching computing which encourages pupils to be critical thinkers, problems solvers and computational thinkers while creating purposeful content to demonstrate how learning can be applied across the wider curriculum.
Through these projects, pupils are able to deepen their knowledge of computing by applying it to solve problems and create content. These may take place in computing lessons over a half term to then allow pupils to apply these creative ideas more regularly across the curriculum.
The stages of D.A.R.E.S are as follows:
D - Design: Pupils start to discuss the desired outcome for their project and are given time to tinker with the software before planning what they will do to achieve their outcome.
A - Apply: Pupils are given the opportunity to create, make and produce content using the app or software explored in the Design lesson(s)
R - Refine: Pupils spend time considering ways to modify and improve their projects to get the best results possible.
E - Evaluate: Upon completing their desired outcome, pupils are given the opportunity to reflect and consider how effectively they have achieved their goal.
S - Share: Learners are given the opportunity to publish and exhibit their work to the world embedding skills from the Digital Literacy curriculum.
Assessment:
Progression in computing will be assessed throughout each key stage through the children’s ability to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study. We will assess the children through:
- Observing children at work during their computing sessions.
- Questioning the children in relation to their programme of study in order to assess their understanding and comprehension.
- Assessment/marking the work produced by the children and discussion of their next steps, which may be both verbal or through the use of SEESAW in class.
Documents and useful links
Please see below a selection of documents and links that relate to the teaching of computing at Fairmeadows. If you require any additional information relating to the subject, then please contact the subject champion Mr Steer via the school office.