At Palfrey Infant School we believe that every child should have the right to a curriculum that champions excellence; supporting pupils in achieving to the very best of their abilities. We understand the immense value technology plays not only in supporting the Computing and whole school curriculum but overall in the day-to-day life of our school.

Intent

At Palfrey Infant School we believe that computing contributes to the school curriculum by preparing all young people to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other forms of activity are increasingly dependent on the knowledge and skills to use technology confidently. Technology is and will continue to be a fundamental part of our pupils’ lives, so we must ensure that we are equipping them with the capability to understand, engage with and produce technology positively, safely and respectfully. Through the use of the Purple Mash scheme of work in Reception to Year 2 we will provide a rich, exciting, relevant and challenging Computing curriculum for all our pupils including making reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of higher attainers, SEND and EAL pupils. Computing lessons in Nursery will support children to develop listening skills, problem-solving and thoughtful questioning skills. Computing lessons in Reception will focus on the foundations of computing skills. Familiarity with some of these skills will reduce the cognitive load on children in future learning and enable them to make progress more rapidly. Specific language development will enable pupils to understand the technical vocabulary linked to computing and the skills they are learning. Through our Computing curriculum, children will be able to develop a wide range of fundamental skills, knowledge and understanding that will equip them to become ambitious users and producers of technology not just consumers of it.

Implementation

At Palfrey Infants, Computing is used in Nursery to support children’s development across the seven areas of learning. Computing in Nursery may be centred around play-based, unplugged activities alongside specific work on devices. We have chosen to follow the Purple Mash Early Years Computing Skills guide in Reception to focus on the foundations of computing skills that will give children a sound basis to explore topics using technology, and to be ready for progressing through the Computing curriculum. In KS1 our curriculum is taught weekly as a discrete subject using the Purple Mash scheme of work. We also recognise that many of the skills taught are transferable, which provides a wealth of learning opportunities across the wider curriculum. These schemes of work enable us to implement the computing National Curriculum which is comprised of three main parts; Computer Science, Digital Literacy and Information Technology. We have refined the order of the units to meet the purposes and needs of our school and wider curriculum and we have chosen the units to provide a wide range of different technological experiences using a variety of tools. The overlaps between units serve to deepen understanding of computational concepts and provide opportunities for pupils to apply and extend understanding and make links in their knowledge and capabilities. The knowledge map has been developed to ensure that our curriculum is progressive and that pupils can make links to their prior knowledge. Formative assessment opportunities are used by teachers to evaluate progress and inform planning.  Progress is demonstrated in each year group through the use of floor books. These books are also used to support children’s retrieval of prior knowledge both within lessons and as part of pupil voice assessments.

Impact

At Palfrey Infant school, learning in computing is enjoyed across the school. Through our curriculum we will equip pupils with skills, strategies and knowledge that will enable them to reap the benefits of our ever developing technological and online world, whilst enabling them to minimise risk to themselves. Pupils will see that the digital world is their world and that it extends far beyond school. Our pupils will be confident and competent users of a technology, know how to use technology safely, develop their problem-solving skills through enquiry and hopefully develop a love of computing. The implementation of our curriculum will equip our pupils with a strong foundation to enable them to successfully access future learning in KS2 and beyond.