Computing

At Gatehouse, our computing curriculum is constructed over a 2 year rolling programme.

The programme has been constructed in so that over the pupils Gatehouse journey they will cover all areas of computing including Digital Literacy (the uses of technology, Computing systems and networks), Information Technology (Creating media Data and information) and Computer Science (Computer programming) with a robust and detailed offer relating to Online Safety.

Every year pupils complete 5 units of computing in depth following a progressive sequence of lessons outlined by the  National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE).  Pupils will complete one unit of digital literacy and either three units of creating media or three units of Computer Programming. The fifth unit of data and information is matched to our Science curriculum and is run alongside interweaving the skills and knowledge required ensuring the computing is taught first with the vehicle of delivery being the science.

Assessment of Computing

Every lesson includes formative assessment opportunities to ensure that misconceptions are recognised and addressed if they occur. They vary from teacher observation or questioning, to marked activities.

The learning objective and success criteria are introduced at the beginning of every lesson. At the end of every lesson, pupils self-assess according to this given criteria. This gives pupils a reminder of the content that has been covered, as well as a chance to reflect. It is also a chance for teachers to see how confident the class is feeling so that they can make changes to subsequent lessons accordingly.

Summative assessment

In Ks1, when we assess, we want to ensure that we are assessing a pupil’s understanding of computing concepts and skills, as opposed to their reading and writing skills. Therefore, we encourage observational assessment.

Observing learning

To capture summative assessment data of KS1 pupils, we recommend using the success criteria in each lesson and capturing some of the following while the lesson is taking place:

■ The work that pupils complete (marking)

■ Notes on conversations or discussions that you have or hear during an activity

 ■ Photographs of the work that pupils produce during an activity

■ The pupils’ self-assessments at the end of the lesson This data is to support teachers’ assessments of the pupils’ understanding of the concepts and skills that were taught in the lesson.

A pupil working at age-related expectations should be able to meet the success criteria for each lesson by the end of the unit.  At the end of a unit, you may wish to use the observations that you have made across each of the lessons to determine an overall snapshot of a pupil’s understanding of the content from that unit.

In KS2, every unit includes a summative assessment framework in the form of either a multiple choice quiz (MCQ) or a rubric.

All units are designed to cover both skills and concepts from across the computing national curriculum. Units that focus more on conceptual development include an MCQ. Units that focus more on skills development end with a project and include a rubric. However, within the ‘Programming’ units, the assessment framework (MCQ or rubric) has been selected on a best-fit basis.

Multiple choice quiz (MCQ)

Each of the MCQ questions has been carefully chosen to represent learning that should have been achieved within the unit. The MCQs, follow the diagnostic assessment approach to ensure that the assessment of the unit is useful to determine both how well pupils have understood the content, and what pupils have misunderstood, if they have not achieved as expected. This ensures that teachers know which areas to return to in later units.

Rubric

The rubric is a tool to help teachers assess project-based work. Each rubric covers the application of skills that have been directly taught across the unit, and highlights to teachers whether the pupil has achieved the expectations for their age group. Children will also review their own completed unit against the units ongoing success criteria.