Primary Computing Framework

It has been developed by a highly experienced team including

• primary curriculum advisers
• educational technology specialists
• programmers
• web designers
• graphic artists.

Consequently it is one of the first commercial products to be officially endorsed by Naace, The Education Technology Association (https://www.naace.co.uk)

Gaia’s Primary Computing Framework provides everything you need to deliver a broad and balanced Computing Curriculum to the whole primary age range including Reception. It has been written in a non-technical style and is complemented by a full set of

• Medium term planning documents
• Projects and resources
• Pupil ‘I can’ statements
• Further reading and links
• Online safety lessons for all year groups
• Guides for teachers to help them to gain the confidence to teach computing
• Assessment grids and record sheets

The framework guides teachers through the Computing Curriculum, providing a structure, from Reception to Year 6. It provides:

• Progression
• Ideas for teaching
• Software suggestions
• Useful website links
• Worksheets
• Presentations

Each year group is divided into three sections: Computer Science, Creativity and Online Safety

Computer Science:

This section looks at the coding and programming elements of the Computing Curriculum. Pupils are taught concepts of computational thinking such as algorithms, procedures and repetition. Directional language is introduced and reinforced and planning is strengthened by the introduction of flowcharts.

Pupils are introduced to both textual and visual programming and investigate how they compare. They design and make simple games using Scratch which they write, test and debug.

Creativity:

In the creativity section of the Gaia Primary Computing Framework, pupils explore digital images, animation, video and audio by completing simple activities which help them learn more about the highly media driven world in which they live. They investigate spreadsheets and databases and practice their skills of data handling including pictograms.

Online Safety:

This section teaches pupils how to keep themselves safe online in an increasingly dangerous world. Topics such as spam, bullying, safe internet searching, copyright and plagiarism are covered by practical activities. Pupils are also taught about their digital footprint, and how to manage it.

The Gaia Primary Computing Framework includes a set of easy to use assessment sheets.

Each record sheet identifies the objectives that have been taught in the previous year and the objectives that will be taught in the following year. This gives teachers the opportunity to easily identify what needs to be revisited in the following year.t.

The projects contain everything you need to set your pupils challenging yet supported tasks and include teacher notes, pupil resources, tutorial videos and examples.

Year 3 Project: Stop Motion Animation

Pupils are guided through the steps required to create their own stop motion animation films simlar to the one above. All characters are provided as pop-out cardboard figures and the project even comes complete with the pins and hole punch required to assemble. A full 36 page teachers guide featuring lesson plans, activities and examples is provided together with a full set of whole class presentation materials in PowerPoint format.

Year 4 Project: Introduction to Designing and Building a Website

Pupils learn about making websites using HTML by researching, tinkering, planning, creating and reviewing. After researching websites and having a go at ‘hacking’ an existing website (not as scary as it sounds!), they produce a four page site about their favourite things using HTML code – this can be easily adapted to incorporate a topic or curriculum subject of your choice.

Year 5 Project: Traffic Lights Scratch Challenge

This project asks pupils to fix a traffic light simulator which contains errors and missing code. Two sets of traffic lights control the traffic at a crossroads. One light is stuck on red, the other on green. By editing and adding code blocks to the various traffic light scripts, pupils fix the simulator, allowing smooth progress of traffic. This project contains full instructions in a 16 page teacher’s guide together with resources and a fully working (fixed) version of the project for comparison.

Year 6 Project: App Development

This project guides pupils through the development of an app. Whilst we have based our examples around the Government School Meals Healthy Eating programme, the simple nature of an information based app, means that virtually any content can be placed within the design. With this in mind, the project can be easily adapted and used as a template to develop your own subject areas and address topics relevant to you and your pupils.

The Gaia Primary Computing Framework has been designed for ease of use. However, it will be best implemented when combined with training from Gaia’s experienced team of primary practitioners. The most cost effective way of doing this is to buy the framework bundled with staff training. We offer one day or two day packages.

Once you purchase a training package you will be given access to our Computing Curriculum Needs Analysis. This will allow your staff to self-assess and generate an accurate picture of the professional learning needs within your school. You will then be assigned an Educational Technologist who will arrange a pre-training consultancy meeting (either face to face or remotely using our online meeting system). Using the Computing Curriculum Needs Analysis as a starting point. we will explore your school’s needs and priorities for training and assess strategic support requirements. Your Educational Technologist will then draft a training plan which will be sent to you for approval.

Following agreement of the plan your training will be carried out by your Educational Technologist and, once complete, will be reviewed to assess impact,