Hi, I am Miss Bacon - Year 3 Class Teacher and Computing Coordinator.

At Mansfield Academy, we aim to provide a high-quality computing education, which will prepare our children for their future by giving them the opportunities to gain knowledge and develop skills that will equip them for an ever-changing digital world.

Generate

Children generate ideas using a range of quality devices, children explore, observe, engage, solve problems.

Aspire

We encourage our children to aspire by equipping them with the knowledge and understanding of ICT and its increasing importance for their future at school, home and in employment.

Together

As the digital age continually expands, children know that they will have opportunities to work together with others around the globe to make exciting discoveries and innovate new ideas.

Enquire

We encourage our children to enquire by providing computing learning experiences that are exciting, engaging, stimulating and interactive.

In line with the 2014 National Curriculum for Computing, our Computing Curriculum focuses on a progression of skills in Computer Science, Digital Literacy/E-Safety and Information Technology to ensure that children become competent in safely using, as well as understanding, technology.

 

Implementation

Computing provides a gateway to a wealth of knowledge, skills, people and places. It is an incredibly powerful tool that is considered a native skill for our children. 

Using the implementation through ‘Teach Computing’, children access technology seamlessly, so our role is providing the opportunities to develop those skills and develop them safely. The computing curriculum therefore links with our PSHE curriculum though e-safety. 

Computing as a subject is taught through three main areas: 

• - Computer Science - designing, debugging and exploring programming
• - Digital literacy - using technology safely
• - Information Technology - use technology to create, store and share digital content 

Through EYFS, KS1 and KS2 we will explore these skills through our learning in class and use computing as a way of bringing other subjects together and exploring them further. We will also develop new discrete skills, such as computer programming. Children will have the opportunity to explore and respond to key issues such as digital communication, cyber-bulling, online safety, security, plagiarism and social media.

 

Impact

As well as each subsequent lesson within a unit being progressive, the teaching type organisation of Teach Computing units are fun, engaging and high-quality computing education. The quality of children’s learning is evident in their confident and competency to navigate digital technology and through questioning, discussions, and child-led assessments. Evidence such as this is used to feed into teachers’ future planning, and it enables teachers to revisit misconceptions and knowledge gaps in computing in future teaching. This supports varied paces of learning and ensures all pupils make good progress.

 

Much of the subject-specific knowledge developed in our computing lessons equip pupils with experiences which will benefit them in secondary school, further education and future workplaces. From research methods, use of presentations and revisiting strands repeatedly through a range of themes during children’s time in primary school will ensure the learning is embedded and skills are successfully developed. We want to ensure computing at Mansfield Primary Academy is loved by teachers and children across school, therefore providing children the building blocks that enable them to pursue a wide range of interests and vocations in the next stage of their lives and ensure they are competent and safe users of ICT.