Computing
Computing Curriculum Statement - September 2021
Computing Intent:
Through our computing curriculum at Mount Carmel we aim to give our pupils the life skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way. We want our pupils to be able to live safely online in the 21st century and we want them to learn the skills necessary to take place in a modern technological workplace. Mount Carmel want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want our learners to be digitally literate and able to use many different aspects of modern technology, such as word processing and photo editing, but through our programming lessons we want them to develop coding skills and in turn creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills. Furthermore, we want our pupils to understand themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and as such behave as responsible digital citizens.
Implementation:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel provides iPads for the majority of computing. IT and Digital literacy will be implemented through our broad and balanced curriculum topics. We will be using a variety of apps and computing unplugged activities to support a range of history, geography and science objectives, adopting and applying computational thinking skills to a range of topics.
The core of computing is computer science. In Mount Carmel we intend to teach this through Apple’s ‘Get Started with Code’ and ‘Learn to Code’. We will use a range of apps such as: Code Spark Academy, Tynker and Swift Playground which is differentiated according to key stage.
One of our fundamental aims in Computing is to address e-safety in accordance with helping our children become computer literate. This is vital as our ever-evolving society of social media and the use of sharing apps can pose risks to our children. It is therefore a priority to not only educate our children on how to stay safe online, but also keep our parents and school community updated in terms of what new and current apps are, age-restrictions on these and how to encourage safe usage/monitoring. This will be implemented through events throughout the year linking to e-safety, whereby all children in the school will have the opportunity to participate in age-appropriate activities linking to e-safety. In addition, regular updates and links will be uploaded to our website and newsletter to help our parents and staff become aware of the latest social media and gaming trends.
Pupils learning is assessed against the 2014 national curriculum computing objectives for the three strands of computing: computer science, digital literacy and information technology. Pupil’s progress is teacher assessed using the variety of evidence uploaded to form their grade. This is presented through class folders stored in our shared drive, which are monitored termly.
Impact:
As the computing curriculum at Mount Carmel is implemented, our children will be equipped with the skills and the knowledge of computer science, information technology and digital literacy. Most significantly, our children will be able to do so safely, respectfully and responsibly: understanding the responsibilities and consequences of the internet.
Please see below for more information on how Computing is taught at Mount Carmel, as well as examples of children's work.
