Course areas

Our new Computing curriculum helps learners understand how computers work. This stimulating course gives students the opportunity to look inside a computer to understand the purpose of different components. They will develop coding skills on visual programming languages, such as Scratch, and learn that computers can only perform actions that humans ask them to do.

1

What will students learn?

Students develop the computational thinking skills and vocabulary they need to:

extract key information from a set of instructions, break down problems into smaller parts and recognise patterns within sequences of instructions present sequences of instructions both verbally and visually, with increasing precision think logically to identify and solve errors in increasingly complex computing scenarios see themselves as computer scientists and understand how skills such as programming and logical thinking help in local and global industries understand the role that computers, other machines and data play in their lives. 

2

How is the programme taught?

We teach Cambridge Primary Computing using a broad range of activities and contexts. We have included plenty of opportunities for learners to investigate and create programs using the constructs that they discover, and we encourage to revisit activities such as programming animations, quizzes and games throughout each stage. Our support materials include Scratch code extracts for learners to investigate, change, enhance and learn from what they see.

Activities that enable learners to sequence instructions away from the computer, such as card sorting tasks, will help them to consider and discuss the key principles of logic and precision.

Opportunities to see and interact with real networked hardware and other machines, both new and old, will help learners to understand the context of computers beyond those that they use in the classroom or at home.

3

Assessment

There are no Cambridge Primary Progression Tests or Cambridge Primary Checkpoint Tests for this subject.