The computing curriculum at Mansfield Green E-ACT Primary Academy has been developed to ensure our learners from Nursery through to Year 6 are competent in computing. Our aim is to give pupils the knowledge, skills and confidence to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.
At Mansfield Green E-ACT Primary Academy, to teach computer science, we use the Purple Mash resource. 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.
Chromebooks and laptops form the access areas of the curriculum. Pupils are introduced to the different stands of computing in EYFS and continue to build upon these skills as they progress through Key Stage 1 and into Key Stage 2.
In EYFS, our pupils are taught about information technology through a cross curricular approach where they learn about various types of technology that people around them use. They are also encouraged to interact with and develop the confidence to use various forms of technology. This is further developed as pupils transition into Year 1 where they learn about using technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content in Autumn and Spring terms. In Year 2, children learn about spreadsheets in Autumn 2 where they create tables of data and they will continue to build on this learning year upon year as they move through school. In Year 3 our pupils learn how to create pie charts and bar graphs as well as using the greater than and less than signs. By the time our learners get to Year 6, they will be able to create spreadsheets based on probability, create their own data based upon real life situations and plan school events and budgets.
One of the prime areas in the EYFS is dedicated to communication and language. Our computing curriculum strives to allow our learners to communicate effectively through emphasising good speaking and listening. Our pupils learn very early on that instructions need to be clear and precise in order for understanding and success in any task. This will be the fundamental building block for our approach towards the strand of computer science. When children engage with the unit on Lego Builders in the Spring term, they will develop an understanding of what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and how programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions. They then move on to do coding in the Summer term. This skill is refined each year in Autumn term for the rest of the school as they complete the coding unit.
At Mansfield Green E-ACT Primary Academy, the strand of digital literacy, whereby learners are taught how to use technology safely and responsibly to express themselves, is the golden thread which underpins all of our teaching and learning, in all areas of the curriculum. These links may be taught in isolation, such as an e-safety lesson or the unit taught in each year called Online Safety, or in our assemblies. Yet, digital literacy will happen each day, when staff are demonstrating the use of technology responsibly and modelling effective and safe practice. This will enable our learners to understand how to be safe when expressing themselves and developing their ideas but will also allow them to know what to do should they feel unsure about anything in the digital world.
Our aim is to ensure that our computing specialists are successful individuals in their chosen field/career and have the required knowledge, skills and confidence to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.
