Intent

At Green Park School we want pupils to be MASTERS of technology; to create, solve problems and learn with technology. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in students’ lives. At Green Park school we teach our children to think critically about technology, to evaluate and to use it effectively and safely rather than just to consume.

It is our intent to educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to value technology as a tool and implement a broad curriculum encompassing computer programming, multimedia, technology in our lives and data handling to achieve this. We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we use technology (especially social media) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues seen with technology/social media is by educating our pupils to be responsible, critical and considerate users. We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways and we use it across the whole curriculum to facilitate this. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our pupils and use this to support SEND pupils by using it to scaffold learning and in children’s personalised learning targets. The curriculum at Green Park School provides opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils to become skilful computer scientists and to achieve mastery. We use a programming curriculum that progresses in small steps and has continuous opportunities for revisiting and repetition to embed taught skills. Alongside this we encourage staff to embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We plan opportunities for our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools as they progress through the school.

Implementation

At Green Park school we follow Rosenshine’s principles of instruction to teach all
children computing. This follows 10 principles-

1. New material is broken into small steps, building confidence step by step.
2. Teachers model by thinking aloud and showing the children a step by step guide with them practicing partially completed questions. Where information is technical e.g Computer
   Programming, experts are used through online teaching platforms like Discovery Education.
3. When needed, teachers will provide a scaffold such as visual instructions.
4. Questioning is a key part to Computing lessons. Teachers are able to provide
   opportunities for the children to practice their skills and demonstrate understanding.
5. Teachers regularly check children’s understanding of key concepts in Computing through
   quizzes, asking children to explain what they have understood rather than asking if they
   have understood.
6. Teachers will work with children to guide their practice, asking questions and elaborating
   on key concepts.
7. Teachers make sure all children understand what they have been asked to do and that there is a high success rate in understanding the small steps taught. This is essential before
   asking children to do their independent work.
8. Children will move onto independent practice when they have overlearned the small
   steps taught. Overlearning ensures that the children have fluency when applying their
   computing knowledge. Independent practice comes in the form of free coding where children
   can create their own games.
9. Computing lessons begin with a recap of what the children have previously learnt.
   This is essential before any new learning can be introduced. This may be done in the
   form of a quiz/game or recap video.
10. Children’s learning is continuously reviewed so that they are well connected
    and can retrieve information automatically.

Computing is equitable and accessible to all children.

At Green Park School, the Computing curriculum is taught both discretely and through embedding technology across the curriculum. Our programming units are timetabled into a weekly Computing session or a Computing day once every half term to allow flexibility when required. To teach computing programming we use Discovery Education Coding which is designed in small steps to enable pupils to master each skill before moving onto the next. When moving through each unit and year group pupils have planned opportunities at the start of each unit to revisit prior learning and apply it in different contexts.

E-safety is taught through discrete sessions at the beginning of each academic year, revisited at the beginning of each new Computing topic and as part of our PHSE curriculum. Our aim is that children will be able to make informed choices to use technology positively, responsibly and safely and to help them to manage risk, not just whilst at school but in their everyday lives.

Some aspects of Computing are covered by using technology to demonstrate learning in other subjects. For example:

• Children in EYFS will have access to technology on a daily basis to mark-make and control simple programmable toys as part of their continuous curriculum.
• Children in Year 1-2 will use pic collage to create posters in History and use BeeBots to learn about position and direction in Maths.
• Children in Year 3-4 will create eBooks and use Chromebooks to research in other areas of the curriculum.
• Children in Year 5-6 at Green Park School will create an Art Blog which they will add to during one Art lesson in each term to appreciate and evaluate the work of famous Artists.

Children at Green Park will learn to use technology creatively to support and show their learning across the curriculum using word processing, search engines, mapping tools, photos and videos and much more.

Delivering computing this way will support our aim; for children at Green Park to create, solve problems and learn with technology.

Impact

At Green Park we teach our children to recognise the value of technology and to
understand the link between Computing lessons and their everyday lives. We consistently ask ‘why’ and ‘what if’ and embed this critical thinking into our students’ learning alongside
teaching them ‘how’. We teach our learners to discuss, reflect, problem solve and be critical
users of technology. In addition we support them in finding the right balance when using
technology, discussing digital wellbeing and healthy life-style.

Computing outcomes at Green Park are measured, evidenced and assessed in the following ways;

• Learning walks
• Discussions with learners
• Discussions with teachers
• Evidencing and reviewing pupil’s knowledge and skills digitally through work sampling on Google Drive.
• Monitoring progress and coverage in Coding units through the Espresso Coding
  platform
• Progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the
  record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes by teachers.

As a result of our computing curriculum:

• Children will be confident users of technology, able to use it to accomplish a wide variety of goals, both at home and in school.
• Children will have a secure and comprehensive knowledge of the implications of technology and digital systems. This is important in a society where technologies and trends are rapidly evolving.
• Children will be able to apply the British values of democracy, tolerance, mutual respect, rule of law and liberty when using digital systems.
• Children will be safe online and be able to recognise and safely manage risk when using technology in and out of school​