In line with the DFE guidance on a broad and balanced released in July 2021 the curriculum of Hoyland Common Primary School is designed to ensure there is breadth but also allows the prioritisation of missed content in core subjects, including key knowledge, skills, vocabulary and concepts.

We teach the Computing curriculum through a thematic/topic based approach which is underpinned by the HCAT accelerated learning cycle.

The key concepts, principles and themes have been developed from the National Curriculum into a range of progressive knowledge and skills that are vital for children to explore. At Hoyland Common Primary, we believe it is important to inspire children from a young age to become problem solvers, careful sequence checkers, creative thinkers and logical predictors. Through our thematic approach to teaching and learning we are able to open our pupils' eyes to the amazing and inspiring power of computational thinking and ignite the potential that lies inside them.

"We are currently preparing children for jobs that don't exist yet..."

The curriculum document for Computing allows teachers to see what these vital skills are so children can confidently use a software in a variety of context in order to enhance their learning and engagement with the curriculum.

...in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet."

There are planned and rigorous opportunities for children to learn about E-Safety and explore different uses of technology in the wider world. Coding is also taught throughout school ensuring that children develop their understanding of algorithms and programming.

The computing curriculum document has been organised into 5 main areas:

Algorithms and Programming, Organising and Searching (Using the Internet), Uses of Technology, Data Retrieving and Organising, E-Safety and Responsibility.

The Computing curriculum we offer is designed to meet the needs of all our pupils. It is rich, varied, imaginative and ambitious and meets the needs of individual learners by can easily be adapted for pupils with additional needs.

Computing is not taught discreetly, but is embedded across the whole curriculum and permeates many subjects, such as: Literacy and Art. It is used in many curriculum areas and has raised interest, self esteem, creativity and aspirations of all children. The Computing curriculum is rich and varied and provides our pupils with the skills required for life in the 21st Century.

The Accelerated Learning Cycle, based on the work of Alastair Smith, is applied in all lessons. It stems from the idea of a supportive and challenging learning environment. The cycle has active engagement through multi-sensory learning, encourages the demonstrating understanding of learning in a variety of ways and the consolidation of knowing.

A gather, skills, apply approach to planning and delivery of lessons is taken across school to ensure children develop a deep understanding of specific skills and are able to apply these in a range of situations.

At HCPS we adopt a topic based approach to wider curriculum learning. The above video is from a topic called 'Young Entrepreneurs' during this topic the children developed their own video game business, they designed logos and printed t-shirt designs before moving onto coding their very own video game, this was then shared with parents and other classes in our very own 'HCPS video game arcade'.

Formative assessment is ongoing throughout each lesson. It judges progress and enables the teacher to make flexible adaptations to their planned teaching.

Through this regular ongoing assessment, tasks are matched to the ability of each child through differentiated activities, adult support, providing a level of challenge that is stimulating for pupils and questioning skills.

INCERTS is used as a summative assessment to assess foundation subjects. Alongside the analysis of data from INCERTS, the curriculum document for computing is regularly highlighted to identify any gaps or misconceptions to be addressed. This allows children to acquire complex skills that depends on the fundamentals of their prior knowledge in a well designed curriculum sequence.