COMPUTING
HOW WE TEACH COMPUTING AT REDGATE
‘A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.’ These two concepts lie at the heart of our ambitious and engaging Computing curriculum that has been written for our school based around our key values and to encompass the unique opportunities we have on offer to our children.
Our children see learning in context and without boundaries and challenge themselves to problem solve and collaborate within their classes and across the globe. The ambitious content and unique experiences offered at Redgate enable all our children to leave us prepared to be future global citizens.
Through research and tinkering children EXPLORE.
With careful planning our children PREDICT.
Once they have a specific goal in mind, our children CREATE.
A more formal assessment process at the end of a unit allows addressing of misconceptions and individual and peer REFLECTION.
This appraoch, coupled with careful guidance and skilled questioning by teachers, encourages our children to constantly reflect on and articulate their learning and record it in a way that enables them to revisit concepts, probelms, and solutions which they are encouraged to find for themselves.This metacognitive approach we have to our teaching encourages all children to think about each stage of their learning and build resilience.
Computational thinking drives the Computer Science element of our learning so our children have the core knowledge and skills needed to adapt to changes in a growing and ever-changing digital world.
The Digital Creativity element of our curriculum enables all our children to share and present their knowledge in their own unique ways to encourage our children to achieve a high standard of understanding of the tools available to them and how to use them in a safe and secure way. Each child in KS2 is provided with their own Chromebook to provide the best possible experience for our children.
Pupil voice and collaboration is central to our Computing curriculum and by Year 6 our children, through the digital leader extra-curricular offer, are able to teach lessons from Nursery to Year 6, support teachers and students in other classes, lead assemblies and have input into decisions made regarding technology and its use in the school. This sets high aspirations for all our children about what they can achieve while at Redgate and in the future.
WE INNOVATE AND COLLABORATE THROUGH OUR TEACHING AND LEARNING. WE GROW AND WE NURTURE BY EMPOWERING OUR CHILDREN. WE STAY SAFE AS WE TAKE CHARGE OF OUR DIGITAL WELLBEING
Google chose Redgate to present for them at the BETT Education Show. The event, held at the ExCel in London is the biggest education show in the world, with visitors from 120 countries attending. Redgate was chosen to present our pioneering project with Crosthwaite Primary School in the Lake District. Children and teachers worked collaboratively over a joint Google Classroom to learn together on a shared project.
The children involved created this video explaining the impact of their work.
Our Digital Leaders teach lessons in digital wellbeing and online safety in all classes from Nursey to Year 6 and in our Pines complex needs provision.
Close links have been made with Merseyside Police to enable our Year 5 and 6 children to get the latest specialist advice on how to keep themselves safe.
We are part of the Computing At School network which means we can call on expert lead teachers to support delivery of our ambitious curriculum. Pupils and teachers benefit from the on-going support with the Computer Science element of our curriculum such as this Scratch workshop with CAS lead teacher Jo Hodge.
Links have been made with specilaists and pioneering professionals allowing for workshops and support for creative elements of our Computing curriculum. A popular workshop was the Kitronik workshop, delivered across KS2 by co-founder of Liverpool Makefest Caroline Keep to promote creative and hands-on learning through physical computing and coding.
Pupil voice is at the heart of our Computing vision. The children are the ones who are learning and it is their voice we want to hear. Following lockdown, children and teachers found that lack of experiences were impacting writing in particular. To bring energy, joy and experince to our learning the children trialled Now Press Play and their voice was listened to when it came to enhancing our curriculum.
Our Digital Leaders surveyed the children and staff in our school and created a report on why they felt so strongly that the school should invest in the Now Press Play equipment which has now been published on the developer's website.
Thanks to support from experts such as Pete Rafferty, our school was well placed to deliver learning online pre-Covid. During lockdown we were able to use the children's experiences in school to continue to learn successfully when lockdown hit. Our school was an example of excellence in Sefton and our model was shared to suport other schools as the lockdown was extended.
Developing Remote Learning in Sefton.pdffinal draft (1).pdf
We nurture by sharing our work with diffrent classes and helping each other to learn and grow,
Parents feel the benefit of our innovative approach to teaching using Chromebooks , particularly our use of online learning tools, Google Classroom and Seesaw. Some comments from a survey of parents regarding our online learning.
"Google classroom allows us to feel a part of a learning environment and not isolated."
"Online learning is relaxed and fun. It is clear what work is expected to be done and then there are extra activities in the website to keep children busy."
"Teachers give lots of positive feedback for all work submitted. Making sure that children have some work to be completed every day. Keeping parents updated and reassured about progress."
"There is good, clear and personalised communication with the teachers to fully meet the childs individual needs."
"We are very lucky to be a part of a fantastic school."
Our children shared their whole-school digital learning project on a cause close to their hearts, climate change, with local MP Bill Esterson. The children, from Nursery - Year 6, held a 'Redgate Climate Conference' using their cross-curricular digital learning to share their important messages with each other and wanted to extend the MP an invitation, bringing their learning to life and taking their important messages to Parliament!
Engaging pupils with computing through Reading
Picture books can provide an excellent way of engaging pupils with computing. Books for Topics have handpicked a selection of the best computing themed stories that open opportunities for you to explore a range of Computer Science based concepts with your child. Visit the link below for more information or to purchase one of the recommended books.
https://www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/topics/science-maths-computing/