Click on the sections below to explore and learn more about the Computing curriculum at St John the Baptist.
At St John the Baptist RC we want pupils to be masters of technology. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in students’ lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators rather than 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. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education.
At St John the Baptist, we follow the Purple Mash Computing Scheme of Work which is a comprehensive set of resources aligned to the National Curriculum for Computing, Technology and Digital Competence. The scheme is followed by each teacher, who ensures that each child achieves their full potential. Children are exposed to a wide variety of digital tools, technological skills, and innovations. In the Early Years, we support children in reaching their early learning goals using a scheme called Mini Mash.
When teaching Computing, we use a range of strategies to ensure we support our learners as best as we can. This includes, presenting new material in small steps with student practice after each step, and by providing students with models and worked examples enabling them to learn to solve problems faster. We believe that every teacher is a teacher of all children including those with SEND and disabilities and it is our duty to value each individual child to enable them to enjoy learning through an inclusive curriculum.
Building our knowledge in this subject will allow pupils to effectively demonstrate their learning through creative use of technology. We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our pupils. 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.
Each child at St John the Baptist has access to their own individual iPad which they are able to use at both school and home. This enables all children, including those without a device, to access a range of learning opportunities from home. The devices are used in many different ways to support children’s learning, including practising times tables, comprehension work and learning spellings. The iPads also play a great part in embedding computing across the whole curriculum, for example recording data from investigations in science lessons.
Whilst ensuring children understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with online experiences, we want children to develop as respectful, responsible and confident users of technology, aware of measures that can be taken to keep themselves and others safe online. Our aim is to provide a computing curriculum that is designed to balance acquiring a broad and deep knowledge alongside opportunities to apply skills in various digital contexts.
Our Computing Subject Leader is Rachel Pinto.
