Through our computing curriculum at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary we aim to give our pupils the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a creative, as well as responsible and safe way in order to flourish. Our curriculum recognises that all children have the right to learning experiences that balance all aspects of Computing.
Intent
Through our computing curriculum at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, we aim to give our pupils the life skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a creative, as well as responsible, and safe way in order to flourish. Our curriculum recognises that all children have the right to learning experiences that balance all aspects of Computing. We acknowledge that technological devices and software are an integral part of everyday life and that society is becoming more and more reliant on technology to guide, innovate, and develop practice in many sectors of work, education, and daily life.
We want our pupils to be able to operate in the 21st-century workplace and we want them to know the career opportunities with Digital organisations around Islington including Google, BT, Microsoft, Three Discovery, Samsung as well as Old Street (“Silicon Roundabout”).
We want children to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want them to be digitally literate and competent end-users of technology but through our computer science lessons we want them to develop creativity, resilience, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. We want our pupils to have a breadth of experience to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens.
Implementation
The computing curriculum at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary has been tailored to focus and build upon the three core aspects of Computing; Digital Literacy, Computer Science, and Information Technology. We do so with a progression framework of skills and knowledge that allows the pupil to make the necessary connections within their learning as they progress through the Computing Curriculum. We use this framework to create a scheme of work for each year group building upon the skills learned in previous years.
Our scheme of work for 2023-2024 uses DFE funded Teach Computing (https://teachcomputing.org) which has been customised for schools to include relevant digital and learning resources. We also use a range of localised Online Resources from LGFL (Inc. Busythings & J2E), and Discovery Education, while maximising the best national and global open resources for teaching Computing including Phil Bagge, Barefoot Computing and Common-Sense Media. Through doing so we embed effective legacy of Remote Learning, enable improved Progress and Portfolio Development, and provide more structured weekly Computing lessons and half termly units of work for all three strands of the curriculum.
You can find our Computing Curriculum below:
EYFS – St Joseph’s Computing Curriculum 2024-2025
St Joseph’s Computing Curriculum 2024-2025
Impact
Our approach to the curriculum results in a relevant, engaging, and high-quality computing education. The quality of children’s learning is evidenced in online folders and portfolios including Google Classroom, Scratch, and Seesaw (archives).
Evidence such as this is used to feed into teachers’ future planning, and as a topic-based approach continues to be developed, teachers are able to revisit misconceptions and knowledge gaps in computing when teaching other curriculum areas. This supports varied paces of learning and ensures all pupils make good progress.
By the end of Year 6 at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, pupils should feel confident in using a range of technology. They should be able to recognise how to keep themselves safe online, and they should understand the importance of being an exceptionally good digital citizen. Pupils should have a sound knowledge of up-to-date technologies and how they can be used to enhance their learning and the curriculum.
What Does Computing at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Look Like?
Pupils are introduced to a wide range of technology including Beebots, Probots, iPads, Chromebooks, VR headsets, and interactive whiteboards which allow them to continually improve and develop their ideas and skills. The sequence of learning develops pupils’ understanding of how digital technology and other computational systems are designed, programmed and operated. As pupils progress through the school and build upon their computational thinking skills they then feel confident in drawing upon familiar and unfamiliar technology and software.
At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, we also believe that Computing enhances our teaching and learning in invaluable ways and so we aim to use our computing skills in as many subjects as possible. Through allowing computing to be used in creative ways across the curriculum, pupils recognise the benefits of becoming digitally literate for both their present and future selves. Not only are the ideas of Computing applied to the wider curriculum, they are also applied to the understanding of real-world systems and products. We encourage pupils to be creative, innovative, purposeful and resourceful in all of their endeavors – we believe that being critical thinkers who are digitally literate will empower our pupils to strive for all of these traits.
From EYFS through to KS2 the pupils of St Joseph’s Catholic Primary are taught how to use digital technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. Younger pupils are regularly taught what to do if something makes them feel uncomfortable whilst using technology. As our pupils progress through the school they learn the importance of keeping personal information private. We pride ourselves in our pupils’ ability to recognise differences between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour online and how to approach this. Pupils learn from EYFS where they can go for help and support when they have concerns about content. KS2 pupils are able to recognise a range of ways to disclose concerns about content and uncomfortable experiences when using technological devices.
EYFS
From the moment the children enter the EYFS setting they have the opportunity to use a range of technology, from using iPads to record their work, to scanning QR codes to listen to stories in a range of languages. The pupils in EYFS also have access to talking clipboards, and talking story books which enable them to listen to instructions from the teacher, as well as recording their own ideas/ stories to aid with sentence writing. We also provide pupils with defunct IT equipment to encourage them to construct their own imaginative role-play scenarios. Pupils in EYFS are also given the opportunity to use remote control toys, and programmable toys to enhance multiple areas of the curriculum. Through exposing pupils in EYFS to a range of digital technology, we are ensuring they understand the world around them whilst ensuring that they are building skills to aid them in key stage learning.
KS1
Pupils continue to recognise digital technology in the wider society and they begin to explore the use and impact of technology in the world around them. They gain an understanding of what algorithms are, how they are used as programmes on digital devices and the importance of precise instructions. With this knowledge our KS1 pupils create and debug simple programs, they also programme robotic toys while predicting the outcome of simple algorithms. Our pupils also begin to learn how to create, edit, store, and retrieve digital content using apps and online software.
KS2
In KS2 pupils are confident in their safe use of the internet, and they understand the opportunities the World Wide Web offers for collaboration and communication. They learn about the various search engines available to them and how these computing networks communicate with each other and the user. Pupils acquire a secure understanding and ability to engage with a range of programs, software, devices, and websites through lessons that are underpinned with the principles of Digital Literacy and Online Safety with safe and best practices referenced whenever appropriate.
Pupils also continue to develop and expand their knowledge of computational systems and digital technology. Pupils in KS2 design, write and debug programmes that have specific goals and target audiences. They use sequence, selection, and repetition in programmes and understand how variables, inputs, and outputs can affect the programmed algorithm. Pupils further build on their logical reasoning skills to decompose problems into smaller, more manageable parts in order to both build their program, recognise problems, debug, and correct errors in code written by both themselves and their peers. KS2 pupils are able to evaluate their work, and recognises ways to improve.
Some Computing Highlights So Far:
Technology at St. Joseph’s School
St Joseph’s School has become a Centre of Excellence for Robotics, and we are extremely proud of all the physical coding lessons and clubs that are taking place in our school. Please take a moment to watch the video to gain insight into what makes St Joseph’s a 21st-century school where we provide our children with the opportunity to experience hands-on learning with robots.
Meet Picoh – our new robots at St Josephs!
We will be able to utilise them over the next three months, providing additional opportunities for our students to explore and develop new skills using yet another block-based coding platform called OHbot.Jessica, in Year 6, has already designed some clothes for them!
Primary eSports Competition at Samsung KX
We are proud to announce that our amazing students ranked in THIRD PLACE in the Primary eSports Competition at Samsung KX yesterday! It was a fantastic learning journey for all of us, and all the children showed fabulous teamwork, resilience, and patience, going through the competition. This was also an opportunity to meet some representatives from the gaming industry and listen to their inspirational speeches.
What is it that you like doing? What do you see yourself doing in the future? Designing, coding, and making music – it all plays a big role in game development. Create not Consume!
Shape Robotics – the collaboration and innovation in St Joseph’s School.
London Grid for Learning, together with Shape Robotics invited us to the Samsung KX event so we could share our amazing achievements with coding Fable robots.
Implementing Shape Robotics aligns with our school’s commitment to fostering 21st-century skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and innovation. By working together in teams to design, build, and program robots, students develop important interpersonal skills while also gaining practical experience in project-based learning.
Shape Robotics. That is the future and St Joseph’s School is now part of it!
https://lgfl.planetestream.com/View.aspx?id=7906~4w~y2CvoFiz
Fable Robots at St Joseph’s School
Educational modular robots for STEM learning – a 21st-century educational tool is now in St Joseph’s School!
As part of our STEAM learning our school received two Fable robots that can be used for and by our students!
Fable Explore comes with a Fable Joint module that gives the functionality of an arm in a humanoid robot and can be used to train problem-solving skills.
Fable Go lets the students create mobile robots that can be remotely controlled and used for games or more complex movements.
Our Digital Leaders had a chance to unpack the robots and check all the parts we got!
Safer Internet Day
We were celebrating Safer Internet Day today. Our Digital Leaders and Safety Leaders prepared the assembly for the whole school.
Although there are lots of incredible things to do online, the internet isn’t perfect and sometimes people use it in ways that are not safe, kind, or responsible. Maybe you or your friends have seen things go wrong online. Safer Internet Day is a good chance to think about online issues, and what we can all do to make the internet a safer place.
All children and young people like you must get to share their opinions and experiences of going online – the good and the bad.
That’s why this year, the theme for Safer Internet Day is: Want to talk about it? Making space for conversations about life online.
Technology Open Morning with Danish Education Leaders
The school was able to highlight the vast array of technology used by pupils throughout the school on an Open Morning attended by 16 visiting Danish teachers and leaders, who were in town to visit the BETT show. The morning started with an introductory talk by Kay Potts, Computing and E-Safety Lead for Children’s Services Islington Council. The talk included sharing the school’s approach to e-safety, useful classroom resources, and the National Curriculum framework.
It was then over to the Digital and Safety leaders to conduct tours around the school including lessons in Reception on Online safety delivered by pupil leaders as well as looking at how technology was used in Nursery and Reception to support lessons; coding with Beebots in Year 1; VR headset usage in a Year 2 science lesson on animals; a Year 3 poster lesson using PicCollage to write about a natural wonder of the world; a Year 4 PE lesson where pupils were using micro:bits to create timers; a Year 5 lesson where pupils were using Scratch to create maths quizzes and finally a Year 6 lesson in which pupils used Tinkercad and 3D modeling. The Digital leaders also took the visitors to the school library to hear about how the Reading Cloud, online book reviews and audiobooks enhance reading. The final part of the visit was a session in the hall when some of the Danish visitors shared how they use the app Code Spaces with their pupils to solve real-world problems. This presentation was followed by one on using Minecraft with pupils to develop and tell stories. Both the school and the visitors learnt a lot from each other about embedding technology into education.
One of the visitors left the following feedback,
“The pupil leaders were fantastic. They conducted our tour in a very knowledgeable way. As we went around the students across the school were active and creative. Thank you for letting us visit your wonderful school with very motivated teachers and an exciting learning environment.”
Digital Leaders at BETT
Hockney Lightroom Immersive Gallery Visit
Using large-scale projection in a remarkable new space, David Hockney takes us on a personal journey through sixty years of his art.
Lightroom’s vast walls and revolutionary sound system enable us to experience the world through Hockney’s eyes.
His lifelong fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites us to look more closely, more truly, and more joyously. Our Digital Leaders used their skills to create some art in Hockney’s style of painting and taking photos..
Useful Documents & Links
PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Computing