Computing at Pear Tree Mead Academy 

Subject Leader: Daniel Thurgood 

At Pear Tree Mead Academy, Computing opens doors to creativity, communication, and problem-solving. We believe that every child should leave our school digitally literate and confident to use technology safely and responsibly. Through practical, engaging lessons, pupils learn to design, code, analyse, and create digital content - building the skills needed for future learning, work, and life in an ever-changing world. 

Our curriculum promotes curiosity, collaboration, and resilience, while developing children’s understanding of how technology connects people and ideas across the globe. By addressing barriers to access and building cultural capital, we ensure that all learners can participate fully in our digital world. 

View our Computing Progression Map to see how knowledge and skills develop from EYFS to Year 6. 

 

Intent 

At Pear Tree Mead, our Computing curriculum prepares pupils to become confident, creative, and responsible digital citizens. We want every child to understand how technology works, how it shapes the world around them, and how to use it safely and positively. 

Our intent is to: 

• Provide a broad, balanced and progressive curriculum that builds pupils’ knowledge and skills year by year. 

• Embed the three key strands of the National Curriculum – Computer Science, Information Technology, and Digital Literacy – through meaningful, real-world contexts. 

• Develop pupils’ ability to think logically, solve problems, and express ideas creatively through technology. 

• Ensure equity and inclusion, so that all children – including those with SEND or limited access to technology – can succeed in computing. 

• Promote safe, respectful, and responsible online behaviour, supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. 

• Equip pupils with future-ready digital skills, including early exposure to coding and AI, that prepare them for secondary school and beyond. 

Computing at Pear Tree Mead directly supports our whole-school vision of developing independent, confident learners who show curiosity, creativity, and care in a connected world. 

 

Implementation 

Our Computing curriculum follows the Teach Computing programme (developed by the National Centre for Computing Education). This provides a clear, structured progression of knowledge and skills across four key strands: 

1. Computing Systems and Networks 

2. Programming 

3. Data and Information 

4. Creating Media 

Each strand is revisited annually through a spiral curriculum, ensuring pupils revisit, consolidate and deepen their understanding over time. 

Teachers adapt units for our school context, ensuring that learning builds on prior knowledge, addresses gaps, and remains inclusive for all learners. 

Pedagogical Approach 

At Pear Tree Mead, teaching in Computing is rooted in: 

• Explicit instruction and modelling to introduce new concepts clearly. 

• Retrieval practice and spaced learning to strengthen long-term retention. 

• Hands-on exploration using physical computing (such as floor robots and micro:bits) to make abstract ideas concrete. 

• Collaborative learning to encourage discussion, reasoning, and teamwork. 

• Metacognitive strategies – pupils plan, test, debug, and evaluate their own digital creations. 

• Assessment for learning – teachers use our Computing KPIs to assess progress in both knowledge and skills, providing timely feedback and challenge. 

Practical Activities and Experiences 

Computing is active and creative at Pear Tree Mead. Pupils experience a range of real-world applications: 

• Coding and debugging in Scratch, progressing to micro:bit and Python projects in Upper Key Stage 2. 

• Designing digital artwork, podcasts, films and websites. 

• Collecting, analysing and presenting data using databases and spreadsheets. 

• Exploring emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence to understand their impact on everyday life. 

• Sharing learning through Online Safety Week, Kids Teach the Parents, and STEM enrichment events. 

These experiences develop digital fluency while encouraging curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. 

Online Safety and Digital Citizenship 

Online safety is a golden thread running through all aspects of our Computing curriculum. 

While safe and responsible use of technology is embedded across every unit, pupils also take part in discrete lessons through Project Evolve (developed by SWGfL), which is underpinned by the Education for a Connected World framework. 

This provides a structured progression from EYFS to Year 6 across eight strands: 

• Self-image and identity 

• Online relationships 

• Online reputation 

• Online bullying 

• Managing online information 

• Health, wellbeing and lifestyle 

• Privacy and security 

• Copyright and ownership 

Through discussion, role play and scenario-based learning, pupils learn to: 

• Make safe and respectful choices online 

• Recognise and respond appropriately to online risks 

• Understand how online behaviour affects themselves and others 

• Manage their digital footprint responsibly 

• Know how and when to seek help 

These principles are reinforced through assemblies, PSHE and RHE lessons, pupil voice sessions, and parent workshops. Whole-school events like Online Safety Week and Anti-Bullying Week help embed a culture of safe, positive digital citizenship. 

 

Impact 

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils at Pear Tree Mead: 

• Have a secure understanding of computing concepts, vocabulary and digital systems. 

• Can design, write and debug programs, using logical reasoning, sequence, selection and variables. 

• Use digital tools effectively to create, analyse and evaluate purposeful content. 

• Demonstrate safe, respectful and responsible online behaviour, linking learning to safeguarding and wellbeing. 

• Understand how technology influences communication, creativity, work and society. 

Impact is measured through: 

• Ongoing teacher assessment using Computing KPIs. 

• Lesson visits, book looks and pupil voice to evaluate the consistency and quality of provision. 

• Monitoring of online safety engagement, including incident logs and parental feedback. 

• Subject leader reviews to evaluate pedagogy, progression and impact across the school. 

Computing at Pear Tree Mead is continually refined to reflect technological change, ensuring pupils are not only consumers of technology, but confident creators and responsible users.