At Thornham St James, we are all computer scientists! We want our pupils to appreciate computing and the digital world. We want them to have no limits to their ambitions and grow up aspiring to be software developers, data analysts, cybersecurity experts, or game designers! The Computing curriculum has been carefully designed so that our pupils develop their computing knowledge and digital literacy. We want all our pupils to remember their computing learning in our school, to cherish these experiences, and embrace the opportunities they are presented with.

Intent

At Thornham St. James School, our Computing curriculum is designed to equip children with the skills, knowledge, and understanding they need to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Aligned with our whole-school vision of "Journeying Together, We Shine," and grounded in our values of community, service, wisdom, compassion, thankfulness, and creativity, we aim to develop students into confident, capable, and responsible users of technology.

Our Computing curriculum fosters curiosity and problem-solving, allowing children to understand not only how technology works but also its impact on the world around them. We intend our students to be competent digital citizens who can navigate the online world safely and ethically, apply computational thinking to everyday problems, and confidently use a range of software and hardware to create, program, and communicate.

By the time children leave Thornham St. James, they will be familiar with key concepts in computing, such as coding, algorithms, data representation, and digital literacy. They will have been exposed to essential programming languages and concepts, understand how to use the internet safely and responsibly, and be able to create and present information using a variety of tools. Our goal is for them to move on to secondary education with strong foundational skills, ready to participate in the digital world with confidence and integrity.

 

Implementation

At Thornham St. James, our goal is to equip pupils with skills and knowledge that go beyond the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum in Computing, preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of a digital future.

Our Computing curriculum at Thornham St. James follows the National Curriculum and is designed to guide pupils toward becoming increasingly expert as they progress, nurturing their curiosity and wisdom. By ensuring that both substantive and disciplinary knowledge are interconnected, we enable pupils to build a robust and lasting understanding of Computing. This approach encourages them to explore, connect, and make sense of complex ideas—aligning with our core value of wisdom.

  1. Substantive Knowledge:
    Pupils develop a solid foundation in three key areas of Computing:
    • Computer Science: Understanding algorithms, programming, and computational thinking.
    • Information Technology: Learning how to create, store, and retrieve digital content.
    • Digital Literacy: Navigating the online world safely, responsibly, and effectively.

We foster creativity in how pupils interact with technology and ensure any misconceptions are promptly addressed, helping build confidence in their learning journey. This aligns with our value of creativity, as students are encouraged to think innovatively and explore new solutions.

  1. Disciplinary Knowledge:
    This focuses on the 'how' of Computing. Pupils are taught specific skills to collect, interpret, and evaluate data, apply logical thinking, and solve problems. Our curriculum emphasizes collaboration and learning from one another, reflecting our community value, where resilience and persistence are nurtured as pupils tackle increasingly complex challenges.

All learning outcomes can be described through a high-level taxonomy of ten strands, which provides categories and an organised view of content to encapsulate the discipline of computing:

• Algorithms — Be able to comprehend, design, create, and evaluate algorithms

• Computer networks — Understand how networks can be used to retrieve and share information, and how they come with associated risks

• Computer systems — Understand what a computer is, and how its constituent parts function together as a whole

 â€¢ Creating media — Select and create a range of media including text, images, sounds, and video

 â€¢ Data and information — Understand how data is stored, organised, and used to represent real-world artefacts and scenarios

• Design and development — Understand the activities involved in planning, creating, and evaluating computing artefacts • Effective use of tools — Use software tools to support computing work

 â€¢ Impact of technology — Understand how individuals, systems, and society as a whole interact with computer systems

• Programming — Create software to allow computers to solve problems

• Safety and security — Understand risks when using technology, and how to protect individuals and systems Computing is planned so that the retention of knowledge is much more than just ‘in the moment knowledge’.

Our Computing curriculum has sequenced the national curriculum into meaningful and connected ‘chunks’ of content to reduce the load on the working memory as well as creating coherent and strong long-term memories. The sequence of substantive and disciplinary knowledge enables pupils to become ‘more expert’ with each study and grow an ever broadening and coherent mental model of the subject. This guards against superficial, disconnected and fragmented Computing knowledge and weak disciplinary knowledge. High frequency, multiple meaning words (Tier 2) are taught explicitly and help make sense of subject specific words (Tier 3).

Our curriculum employs research-led methods such as retrieval practice, deliberate practice tasks, and spaced repetition. These strategies ensure that learning is memorable and that pupils make meaningful connections between new and prior knowledge. This reflects our value of thankfulness, as we build on previous learning and celebrate the progress that comes from continuous effort.

We implement our intent discretely using NCCE Teach Computing programme of study. The Teach Computing Curriculum (ncce.io/tcc) is a comprehensive collection of materials produced to support teaching, facilitating the delivery of the entire English computing curriculum. The Teach Computing Curriculum was created by the Raspberry Pi Foundation on behalf of the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE). All content is free, and editable under the Open Government Licence (OGL — ncce.io/ogl), ensuring that the resources can be tailored to each individual teacher; therefore reducing  workload. The materials are suitable for all pupils irrespective of their skills, background, and additional needs. The units for key stages 1 and 2 are based on a spiral curriculum. This means that each of the themes is revisited regularly (at least once in each year group), and pupils revisit each theme through a new unit that consolidates and builds on prior learning within that theme. This style of curriculum design reduces the amount of knowledge lost through forgetting, as topics are revisited yearly. It also ensures that connections are made even if different teachers are teaching the units within a theme in consecutive years. The Teach Computing Curriculum has been designed to reduce teacher workload. To ensure this, the Teach Computing Curriculum includes all the resources a teacher needs, covering every aspect from planning, to progression mapping, to supporting materials.

By the time our pupils leave Thornham St. James, they will be confident, capable, and responsible digital citizens. They will possess the skills to program, create, and communicate using a range of digital tools, and understand how technology impacts both their personal lives and the wider world.

 

Lesson Structure
Our Computing lessons follow a structured format designed to promote depth of understanding and application of knowledge:

  • Anchor: Pupils revisit prior knowledge, connecting it to new content. Teachers introduce new concepts, addressing common misconceptions.
  • Model: Worked examples demonstrate what success looks like in practice.
  • Guided: Pupils engage with new ideas, practicing them through guided tasks.
  • Independent: Pupils apply their understanding in creative and meaningful ways.
  • Connect: Pupils reflect on their learning, comparing, contrasting, and evaluating ideas.

This structure ensures that pupils engage critically with new concepts and develop resilience and independence in their learning, reflecting our values of wisdom and creativity.

Real-World Learning Opportunities
Field trips, guest speakers, and industry partnerships provide opportunities for pupils to see how Computing is used in the real world. This helps them understand the impact of technology on their lives and the wider community, reinforcing the value of service and helping pupils see the relevance of their learning to future careers.

Our Computing curriculum equips pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the digital world confidently, safely, and ethically, preparing them for success in future education and beyond.

 

Impact

At Thornham St. James, we are committed to ensuring that our curriculum effectively embeds learning in pupils’ long-term memory while also promoting excellence in outcomes. To assess the impact of our curriculum, we employ a comprehensive approach that utilises four key tools:

  1. Classroom Check-ins: These evaluations focus on subject knowledge, clarity of explanations, high expectations, opportunities for learning, pupil responses, participation, and teacher-student relationships. This allows us to assess how well pupils are engaging with the content and applying their knowledge.
  2. Pupil Book Looks and Pupil Voice : These studies involve dialogues with pupils and reviewing their workbooks to evaluate curriculum structures, teaching methods, participation, and responses. This dialogic model helps us gauge whether pupils are knowing more, remembering more, and able to do more as a result of their learning experiences.
  3. Professional Growth Models: We prioritise continuous improvement in staff subject knowledge and evidence-informed teaching practices, including retrieval practice, spaced learning, interleaving, and explicit instruction techniques. This ensures that all teachers are equipped to support pupil learning effectively.
  4. Assessment and Achievement: We articulate learning outcomes through tasks and tests, evaluating both understanding and areas for improvement. This information informs our next steps, guiding us in adjusting teaching to meet the needs of all pupils.

 

In conducting these evaluations, we ask critical questions such as:

  • How well do pupils remember the content that they have been taught?
  • Do books and pupil discussions demonstrate progress and attainment?
  • Can pupils apply their learning in more sophisticated contexts, showing that knowledge has ‘travelled’ with them?

Retrieval Practice and Assessment as Tools for Learning
While delivering the curriculum, teachers consistently check for understanding, identifying and addressing any misunderstandings. Assessment serves as a vital tool to support pupil learning. Research highlights the significant benefits of retrieval practice, one of the strongest findings in cognitive psychology (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006; Storm, Bjork & Storm, 2010). We implement low-stakes quizzes, including flashback quizzes at the start of each lesson, which are efficient, effective, and motivating for pupils. These quizzes also provide valuable insights into areas where pupils may be struggling.

To enhance retention and ensure that knowledge is embedded in long-term memory, we employ a retrieval plan that revisits all topics over time through spaced learning. This structure allows for cumulative quizzing, vocabulary use, and deliberate practice, ensuring that pupils can build upon their knowledge in a meaningful way.

Curriculum Adaptation and Continuous Improvement
We conduct frequent audits of the Computing curriculum, adapting it based on our findings to enhance learning opportunities and assessment endpoints for each year group. This ensures clear progression and repetition, reinforcing key learning, knowledge, and skills throughout the curriculum.

Ultimately, at Thornham St. James, our goal is for children to know more, remember more, and understand more. Through this rigorous approach to assessment and quality assurance, we are committed to fostering a deep and lasting understanding of geography and other subjects across the curriculum.

 

Computing Whole School Journey

Computing Curriculum Progression 

Computing Vocabulary Progression

Computing Unit Overviews for Families