At our school we want pupils to be masters of technology and not slaves to it. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in students' lives. We are mindful of pupil’s access to technology and, in order to ensure inclusivity for all, are able to provide IT support for pupils outside of school when required (diversity). We want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education in online safety which is a termly priority in each year group. We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways.
Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils become skilful computer scientists. We will also educate our pupils on the environmental impact of technology. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.

We have created a comprehensive progression document for staff to follow to best embed and cover every element of the computing curriculum encompassing the three strands of computer science, digital literacy and information technology. The knowledge and skills taught through our long term plan build year on year to deepen and challenge our learners.

Our threshold concepts of information technology, computer science and digital literacy see children amass a series of progressive skills underpinned by our knowledge categories: online safety, the Internet, basic skills and awareness of audience, which are weaved throughout the curriculum.

Information Technology Computer Science Digital Literacy
Basic skills/typing (Purple Statements on LTP) Programming/coding Self-image and Identity
Presentations/ebook Online Relationships
Animation Online Reputation
Photography and digital art Online Bullying
Databases Managing Online Information
Sound Health, Wellbeing and Lifestyle
Privacy and Security
Copyright and Ownership

We aim for all children at Newlaithes to be competent computer scientists and to reach the expected standard in computing at the end of each year. Our curriculum ensures that children develop an interest in and a love of the subject which enables them to be effective learners throughout their journey at Newlaithes and fully prepared for the next stage of their education. The children will be able to work collaboratively with their peers and independently as inquisitive learners who are motivated to excel and who have a thirst for learning. Our computing curriculum will also enable our pupils to become good citizens and demonstrate an appreciation for others, displaying respect for all when accessing the online community.

We have developed our computing curriculum based on the National Curriculum, identified the key skills and knowledge which we want children to learn and consequently make judgements against this criteria during and at the end of the year enabling us to measure the impact teaching and learning has. The majority of assessment which takes place is formative assessment allowing teachers to adapt their planning to match the needs of the children.

The subject leader monitors the impact of the computing curriculum through protected monitoring time during which they complete a range of activities: lesson observations; scrutiny of planning and work; speaking to staff and children and analysing assessment data (introduced summer 2022). This process is quality assured by the Senior Leadership Team and agreed actions are added to subject leader action plans.