The Hill Primary Academy Astrea Academy Trust
Our Vision
As computing technology underpins today’s modern lifestyle it is essential that all pupils gain the confidence and ability that they need in this subject, to prepare them for the challenge of a rapidly developing and changing technological world.
We have a clear and simple vision. Our children should be:
- online-safe
- online-inspired
- online-confident.
Intent Statement
At The Hill Academy, we expect the highest aspirations for our pupils. We want all children to learn and make academic progress no matter their starting points. We have a clear vision for what we want pupils to achieve during their time at The Hill and have designed our curriculum to give all pupils the knowledge, skills and understanding they will need in their future years.
At The Hill, we want pupils to be masters of technology. We intend to educate our pupils on how to use technology responsibly and safely and effectively. Our vision is to embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning inspiring and accessible for all. As children go through school, they will have the opportunity to create their own podcasts, and games as well as create and edit their own films, providing them with experience to prepare for a 21st-century lifestyle. We use and adapt Teach Computing to support our planning in the following areas of computing; computing systems and networks, creating media, data and information and programming. Teach Computing gives us clear guidance on how to best equip our students to be masters of technology and prepare for life after The Hill. It is important that the teaching team provides children with the opportunity to showcase their learning in order to reflect on and improve their knowledge, skills and understanding. This enables children to become reflective learners and helps them to close the gap between what they can do currently and what their next steps are.
Implementation
At The Hill most computing units are taught discretely however the use of technology is encouraged to support learning across all curriculum areas to prepare children for life in an ever-evolving technology-based world. We have chosen the Purple Mash Computing Scheme of Work, to support our teaching of ICT. Oracy is a key priority at The Hill and is vital that children are explicitly taught the subject-specific vocabulary so they can better understand the skills/ knowledge they are learning. The curriculum is referenced against the 2014 National Curriculum attainment targets in order to ensure progression and coverage. In computing lessons, the children will use either iPads or laptops in order to access a range of apps and software. Our pupils also have access to these devices in core subjects as well as wider curriculum subjects.
Where appropriate, the curriculum has been linked to the school’s Long Term Plan to enable children to transfer their skills and knowledge. In addition to the units within Purple Mash, children access computer safety through our PHSCE curriculum, 1Decision.