COMPUTING CURRICULUM AIMS at GIA

At Glasshoughton Infant Academy experiences are at the heart of all learning where children have ‘hands on’ learning opportunities through real life objects, visitors or visits. Children are immersed in thematic learning based on an interleaving curriculum where new knowledge is taught, learned, remembered, revisited and applied by children ‘being’, for example being a Scientist or a Geographer.

At Glasshoughton Infant Academy we believe that language development is vital for all children. We have high aspirations and support them to ‘be’ in their learning. The experiential and interleaving approach ensures that language is used by all stakeholders, including parents. Children develop good comprehension of the words they are using and are able to use them in context and accurately as part of their real learning.

Retrieval practice is planned for daily through ‘speak like an expert’ where children are expected to retrieve knowledge that has been previously taught as a strategy to support them to move learning from the short term to the long-term memory.

We are a ‘talk rich’ school: talk is central to our curriculum and to the way our pupils learn. Children learn through talk. We believe oracy (the ability to communicate effectively) is a central means of extending pupils’ linguistic, social, emotional and cognitive development; it is key to the progress and attainment of all pupils across all areas of the curriculum.  

At Glasshoughton Infant Academy we view computing as an essential element of the curriculum.  Our aim is to enhance learning in all areas of the curriculum through the use of computing. It is envisaged that computing does and will continue to enhance the process of teaching and learning in all areas of the curriculum. Computing will also provide the children with a way to communicate their understanding and prepare them for the future.

To create:

• Successful learners who enjoy learning, make at least expected progress with some children making better than expected progress to achieve excellence.
• Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives.
• Responsible citizens who can make a positive contribution to society whilst using computing to develop their language and communication skills.
• Become individuals who are confident in handling and using a range hardware, software and other computing equipment for a variety of purposes.
• A developmental curriculum which engages children in authentic learning experiences that reflect the individual needs of all children, including disadvantaged and pupil premium therefore ensuring no child is left behind.
• Children who are clearly able to explain and articulate their learning, using accurate vocabulary and terminology linked to Computing.
• Successful learners who build upon previous learning in order to gain new knowledge and skill and apply their knowledge in different contexts. 
• Confident communicators who are able to explain and record their learning from across the curriculum and present it to a variety of audiences.

It is essential that the Computing curriculum is organised in such a way that it provides learners with the opportunity to learn expected behaviours and be successful in their learning so that we can deliver our mission and aims.

Strategic Intent

The breadth and depth of the curriculum is designed to:

• Create an aspirational high achievement culture which allows pupils to develop as confident, responsible citizens;
• Provide a coherent, structured, academic curriculum that leads to key concepts, ideas and knowledge expecting children to apply skills through a variety of experiences and planned learning opportunities;
• To provide cultural capital, so children have a deep understanding, respect and tolerance of the world around them;
• Take in to account individual needs and styles where ALL children experience success;
• To prepare all pupils to be: responsible, confident, competent and creative users of information and communication technology.

Coherently planned academic curriculum

Underpinned by our two curriculum drivers our academic curriculum sets out:

• A clear breadth of topics and outcomes that will be covered
• The procedural knowledge that children will learn alongside the disciplinary knowledge that they will gain.
• Criteria for understanding the progression and sequences of learning and concepts to support retention of key knowledge
• Criteria for depth of understanding through retrieval practice and new knowledge.

Cultural Capital

Cultural capital is the background knowledge of the world pupils need to infer meaning from what they read. It includes vocabulary which, in turn, helps pupils to express themselves in a sophisticated, mature way.

Individuals

The curriculum is designed for all children to maximise their potential through carefully planned and targeted teaching, where assessment for learning provides vital intelligence on what the next steps need to be for individuals to succeed in their learning. Pre-teaching and Same Day Intervention are two strategies that are consistently applied across school to support children to experience success. The developmental progressive curriculum is designed in such a way that individual needs, strengths and next steps are built upon to ensure no child, including those who are pupil premium or disadvantaged, fall behind.

Sustained Mastery

Nothing is learned unless it rests in pupils’ long term memory. This does not happen, and cannot be assessed, in the short term. Assessment therefore answers two main questions: How well are pupils coping with the curriculum content? And how well are they retaining previously taught content? This is assessed throughout the lesson on a daily basis through assessment for learning where children’s understanding of key concepts is revisited, feedback is given and acted upon and has it been remembered is checked in future learning. The use of cold and hot assessment tasks support assessment of progression and further next step identification.

The impact of the curriculum is assessed at 3 assessment points:

• Assessment point 1 – 28th November 2022
• Assessment point 2 – 13th March 2023
• Assessment point 3 – 10th July 2023

This will support teachers to highlight clear next steps for individuals and support leaders in school in their professional dialogue around progress, CPD, subject knowledge, outcomes and lines of enquiry to follow. Impact of the curriculum is triangulated through skills, knowledge and the ability to communicate the learning.

Curriculum Implementation

• Clear planned pathway to progress from on entry to nursery to the end of key stage 1 and beyond, accelerating progress in all sequences of learning.
  • Learning is most effective with spaced repetition
  • Interleaving helps pupils to discriminate between topics and aids long term retention.
  • Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both storage and retrieval strength.
• Safer internet day and e-safety week are both days/week which celebrate the safe use of computing equipment in school and taught in isolation, in PSED and through other cross-curricular subjects.
• Computing underpins and enhances a vast amount of the teaching and learning at Glasshoughton, in order to maximise children’s experiences by using computing equipment in daily life to track and control events as well as use equipment to perform actions.
• There should be depth before breadth. Maximise learning time in all subjects and consider the subject specific skills, knowledge and vocabulary required.
• Targeted support and additional challenge to ensure all learners make at least national rates of progress from their starting points and over time.
• Ensure all students’ progress is in line with national expectations and learners and their teachers are ambitious to achieve more through deeper learning opportunities.
• Some of our content is subject specific, whilst other content is combined in a cross-curricular approach.
• To support induction and transition points across the Primary years for all learners and their carers
• The curriculum is further enriched and boosted through the wide variety of after curricular activities that are available for the infant children including music classes where they learn to play an instrument, sports coaching, MFL, craft and creative clubs, computing and coding club. All children are invited to attend the clubs through an open invitation and specific children, including our most identified vulnerable children are contacted individually to ensure they have had involvement in at least one of our clubs.
• Opportunities to ‘Speak like an expert’ are  planned into every lesson to support daily and weekly retrieval practice where learning moves from the short term to longer term memory.
• ‘Sticky knowledge’ is key to ensure lessons are learning focused. This allows children to confidently communicate their learning as a Scientist, Historian, Artist, etc.
• Children are regularly taught subject specific terminology and vocabulary linked to Computing. They are actively encouraged to use this terminology when discussing their learning. Children will also be given opportunities to embed this terminology throughout carefully planned learning sequences.
• Children are provided with many opportunities to practise their learning in different contexts and for different purposes to ensure it is embedded into the long-term memory. This helps children become more confident in utilising computing technology.
• Effective communication is a vital skill which children are taught in order for them to demonstrate their learning from across the curriculum in a variety of different ways, including verbally and through written recordings. 

The Curriculum

We have a very broad Primary Curriculum covering 12 subjects meeting all the national curriculum requirements.

The National Curriculum 2014 is followed across school ensuring that there is progression of Computing knowledge and skills, this is enhanced through the wider curriculum assessment policy. The two are used, in conjunction together, as a planning tool allowing teachers to plan for a variety of engaging tasks and cross-curricular learning.

Computing is taught in a cross curricular manner, this is evident across school, with some specific topics taught in isolation. However the computing language and terminology used is used in a variety of subjects to increase the children’s short term memory and confidence in using the vocabulary taught. Regular theme days incorporate the use of computing equipment and provide memorable learning experiences for all children as they learn through a variety of methods and learning styles.

Sequential schemes of learning with clear planned learning objectives for all Computing lessons allows children to build on prior knowledge and skills. This is delivered through a progressive curriculum ensures that current learning opportunities are based upon children’s previous learning, knowledge they have retained from previous lessons or the previous year group and links to year group expectations.

Spacing and interleaving ensures that computing is threaded throughout the week and is a part of the children’s daily diet. This is outlined in long-term and medium term planning to ensure progression of skills and also to ensure that all computing objectives are being revisited to transfer knowledge and skills to long term memory. Children are encouraged to retrieve knowledge taught within the Computing lesson and apply this understanding to different subject areas e.g. children will be taught how to code and debug programmes in isolation within the computing lesson but would be expected to transfer these taught skills to other lessons such as science when carrying out an experiment.

Our school Twitter and Tapestry are regularly used by stakeholders in school to share children’s learning for parents to see, other schools within the academy trust and children. This online profile has given the children a greater understanding of technology used in everyday life and understand the priority in safety online and appropriate sharing of information.  Home school links are also fostered through the use of Class Dojo. This tool is used to communicate children’s learning with parents, celebrate their achievements and support the use of remote learning in the current climate.

Children in EYFS and KS1 have access to a green screen. In EYFS this aims to enhance provision areas and combine technology within the children’s daily learning. In KS1 children are to then develop these computing skills through filming themselves using the computing equipment and green screen and post it independently onto their class journals. Children also have access to a wide range of apps that help to support the curriculum content. These apps range from consumer apps to creator apps which allow children to become confident in using computing skills to operate technology but also use their computing skills to create elements on a range of technology.

Emphasis on vocabulary and definitions that are computing specific is shared with all stake holders including parents. This is shared with parents termly and regularly used by adults in the classroom and around school.

Additional support is provided for children who are not meeting their targets through bespoke small group intervention led by highly skilled professionals. This is monitored through pupil progress meetings and SMART targets to ensure the impact of the intervention is as anticipated in a timely manner. 

Suspended learning – When the normal lesson timetable is suspended, take place during the year.  These days allow children to learn in different ways such as off site, with external providers or using different curriculum approaches.  These days’ cover subjects such as Staying Safe, British Values, hook days/trips/visitors etc. The curriculum is further enriched and boosted through the wide variety of after curricular activities that are available for the infant children including music classes where they learn to play an instrument, sports coaching, MFL, craft and creative clubs, computing and coding club. All children are invited to attend the clubs through an open invitation and specific children, including our most identified vulnerable children are contacted individually to ensure they have had involvement in at least one of our clubs. 

Curriculum Impact

The impact of the curriculum is that:

• By the end of the year, the vast majority of children have sustained mastery of the content, that is, they remember it all and are fluent in it. Some children will have reached a greater depth of understanding where they can apply their learning. The impact of the curriculum is that children are clear about their learning and able to confidently communicate this using accurate vocabulary and terminology from across the curriculum.
• Children ranging from EYFS to KS1 from different groups can speak confidently as a computer user at GIA and talk about work displayed in classrooms, different apps and technology used in class during regular pupil voice discussions. They will be confident in communicating in a variety of different contexts and for a variety of purposes and audiences, allowing children to confidently communicate their learning as a Computer user both verbally and in the written form, using accurate vocabulary.
• Through a developmentally progressive curriculum, whereby children build upon they prior learning and knowledge, we will ensure that no child, including pupil premium and disadvantaged, are left behind. We will ensure all children have the tools to reach their full learning potential.