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The computing curriculum at St Mary’s has been recently updated, due to the development and instalment of new technology. The Computing Curriculum uses the National Centre for Computing Education’s computing taxonomy to ensure comprehensive coverage of the subject. All learning outcomes can be described through a high-level taxonomy of ten strands.
The Computing Curriculum is structured in units. For these units to be coherent, the lessons within a unit must be taught in order. However, across a year group, the units themselves do not need to be taught in order, with the exception of ‘Programming’ units, where concepts and skills rely on prior learning and experiences. The units for key stages 1 and 2 are based on a spiral curriculum. This means that each of the themes is revisited regularly (at least once in each year group), and pupils revisit each theme through a new unit that consolidates and builds on prior learning within that theme. This style of curriculum design reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. It also ensures that connections are made even if different teachers are teaching the units within a theme in consecutive years.
To ensure that teachers are as prepared as possible, the Teach Computing Curriculum builds on a set of pedagogical principles, which are underpinned by the latest computing research, to demonstrate effective pedagogical strategies throughout.
Online safety at St Mary's is a priority. Along with our digital literacy units, from Common Sense media, we explicitly teach online safety as part of computing curriculum. Our computing curriculum links lesson content with the National Curriculum and Education for a Connected World framework. These references have been provided to show where aspects relating to online safety, or digital citizenship, are covered within the Computing Curriculum. |
Computing at St Marys
