The Endeavour Computing Vision

Personal Empowerment

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in ways that lead to children being able to actively participate in their lives. In computing, by learning the knowledge and concepts that we have chosen to learn in detail, children learn how to appropriately and effectively use a wide range of technology in an ever changing world. This prepares them to be active participants in their own lives. For example, returning to their computational thinking skills in increasingly complex ways develops transferable critical thinking. This critical thinking prepares children to make decisions about their lives and to access learning about any area of computing with success in Secondary School. 

Furthermore, computing is a crucial component of our curriculum because it helps us to pass on the best that has been thought and known and to ensure that our children leave Primary School with an expected amount of knowledge about the world. 

Cultural Transmission

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that ensures that we pass on the best that has been thought and known. In computing, by developing fluency in the knowledge that we have identified should be developed fluently, we give our children important knowledge that empowers them to thrive. For example, we want our children to develop fluency in these five main areas:

• Computing networks: Understand how networks can be used to retrieve and share information, and how they come with associated risks 
• Computing systems: Understand what a computer is, and how its constituent parts function together as a whole 
• Creating media: Select and create a range of media including text, images, sounds and video
• Data and Information: Understand how data is stored, organised, and used to represent real world artefacts and scenarios
• Programming: Create software to allow computers to solve problems

Through these five main areas, children will also develop fluency in these additional five areas:

• Algorithms: Be able to comprehend, design, create and evaluate algorithms 
• Design and develop: Understand the activities involved in planning, creating, and evaluating computing artefacts 
• Effective use of tools: Use software tools to support computing work 
• Impact of technology: Understand how individuals, systems, and society as a whole interact with computer systems
• Safety and security: Understand risks when using technology, and how to protect individuals and systems 

Beyond the knowledge of the computing curriculum that we have chosen for our children to develop fluently, we also choose for our children to develop awareness of important individuals dubbed ‘Computing Champions’ that we b elieve it is important for our children to have awareness of. For example:

In Year 1, when learning the unit ‘Moving a Robot’ children learn that Donna Shirley was the manager of the Mars Exploration Program.

In Year 2, when learning the unit ‘Digital Photography’ children learn that Margaret Bourke-White was one of the first prolific female photographers.

In Year 3, when learning the unit ‘Stop-frame Animation’ children learn that Nick Park used stop motion to create Wallace and Gromit.

In Year 4, when learning ‘Audio Production’ children learn that Sonia Pottinger was the first female Jamaican record producer.

In Year 5, when learning ‘Systems and Searching’ children learn that Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google.

In Year 6, when learning ‘Variables in Games’ children learn that Junichi Masuda programmed the first Pokemon games.

As well as giving children empowering knowledge that allows children to participate in their own lives and to enter society with an expected amount of knowledge, computing also prepares children for citizenship.

Preparation for Citizenship

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that prepares children to make informed decisions as members of a democratic society. In computing, by developing fluent knowledge of computational thinking and its four key concepts (abstraction, decomposition, algorithms and pattern recognition) we prepare our children to make informed decisions. For example, we know that children who can confidently break down a problem using decomposition will be more able to tackle complex problems that will inevitably appear during their lifetimes. Furthermore, we know that children who have developed fluent knowledge of the concept of abstraction will be better prepared to navigate the increasingly complex world of social media and filter out information that they deem unnecessary.

In addition to empowering children to participate in their lives, giving an expected amount of knowledge and preparing children to make informed decisions, the computing curriculum prepares children to thrive in the workplace.

Preparation for Work

At Endeavour, we design our curriculum in a way that prepares children for work. In computing, by developing fluent knowledge of computational thinking and our chosen key concepts (abstraction, decomposition, algorithms and pattern recognition) we prepare our children to succeed at work. We know that computational thinking develops transferable skills and that knowledge of the design process and our key concepts prepares children with mental models that can be applied to any industry. For example, developing knowledge of algorithms prepares children to confidently create instructions for themselves and others to follow in their future jobs and, indeed, to succeed in jobs that do not yet exist.

When designing our curriculum, we ensure that we select knowledge and structure its implementation in ways that lead to personal empowerment, cultural transmission, preparation for citizenship and preparation for work. However, we also acknowledge that there exists the injustice of disadvantage and so we shape our curriculum around the core aim of tackling disadvantage.