Thameside primary school and Nursery
Head Teacher: Mrs J Bray
Computing
National Curriculum
A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.
The school follows the The Teach Computing Curriculum which is a comprehensive collection of materials produced to support 500 hours of teaching, facilitating the delivery of the entire English computing curriculum from key stage 1 to 4 (5- to 16-year-olds). The Teach Computing Curriculum was created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation on behalf of the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). All content is free, and editable under the Open Government Licence (OGL — ncce.io/ogl), ensuring that the resources can be tailored to each individual teacher and school setting. The materials are suitable for all pupils irrespective of their skills, background, and additional needs.
The aims of the Teach Computing Curriculum are as follows:
â– Show the breadth and depth of the computing curriculum, particularly beyond programming!
â– Demonstrate how computing can be taught well, based on research
â– Highlight areas for subject knowledge and pedagogy enhancement through training
