Why New ICT Schemes of Work?

We know the current QCA is a little out of date and doesn't provide us with the cross curricular opportunities we know ICT can bring. So we wanted to develop a broader scheme that embraces new technologies available to us and recognises the increasing ICT skills the children have

The aims will be to use the new planning materials to support staff in schools to:

• Raise standards in ICT and support the embedding of ICT across the curriculum
• Understand ICT capability
• Understand progressions of capability
• Give children a wide range of ICT skills and experiences which they can apply to other areas of their learning 
• Be a basis to plan ICT in a more cross curricular, creative and exciting way

Using the Plans

The ICT strands have been sub divided as the diagram shows below. An element of each strand is taught progressively across all years.  

What's in the Strands?

Communicating Ideas:

Multimedia: Combine Text, graphics and Sound:

This unit works closely with the Communicating Ideas strand of ICT which includes digital imagery, sound and Communicating and Publishing

Many aspects of this unit can be accomplished using the communicating and publishing stand on the learning platform. The children will communicate and present their ideas using digital images, text and sound. They will record and present information integrating an appropriate range of electronic media for a given audience. They will design and create and evaluate their own presentations maximising the use of ICT to present information in different ways demonstrating an understanding of audience and purpose

Communicating Collaborating and Publishing:

This unit works closely with the Communicating Ideas strand of ICT which includes digital imagery, sound and Multimedia In this unit the children will learn to work safely when communicating with peers and a wider community. They will understand why we have safety rules and how to abide by those rules. They develop a range of skills using tools on the learning platform that will allow them to contribute, communicate, collaborate and publish their ideas and work to specific guided audiences.

Sound and Music:

In this unit the children will develop a range of skills using music peripherals, composition software and recording devices. They will be expected to use software to enable them to combine different elements of sounds to create a finished piece. Sound files can be shared on the learning platform as a simple upload, an embedded sound on a page, wiki or forum or as a podcast. Pupils will be expected to develop a range of musical skills in the development of this unit

Digital Imagery:

In this unit the children will create save and amend ideas using painting and graphics packages. The film and photography aspects of these units will depend on availability of resources but all children will be expected to use cameras and video recording devices during their Primary ICT experience.

If children want to develop further skills they also have the option to develop animation skills these expectations can be met through using either simple photography or through using free tools such as Pivot Stick animator as well as specific pieces of software if available in schools

Finding Things out

Research:

In this Unit the children will know information exists in different forms. They will Collect, organise and classify data. Create graphs and use these to answer questions. As they progress they will identify and develop a means of collection, and collect appropriate data. In order to answer questions they will collect, organise classify and interpret data and develop a simple database.  In order to solve a specific problem they will use ICT to collect and process data and present their findings understanding the need for accuracy

Handling Data

In this unit the children are expected to develop a range of skills when using ICT to research for information: The children will be expected to explore information from different sources.  Ask a range of questions about the information they have gathered. Find specific information using a range of ICT based resources. Interpret findings, check their plausibility and recognise that poor quality information leads to unreliable results

Developing Ideas Making Things Happen

Control:

In this Unit the children will predict, estimate and create and record sets of instructions to control devices to achieve specific outcomes. They will Predict and test short sequencers of linked instructions to achieve intended outcomes. Investigate physical data through sensing. Refine instructions to improve the efficiency (procedure) of the instructions they have created data. Create a sequence of instructions to control events including the use of feedback from input devices to solve given problems

Modelling:

 In this Unit the children will use ICT to explore real and imaginary situations. Explore options and make choices. They will understand that they can explore a simulation and use this to change things and solve problems by identifying the rule. Use an on screen control devices to explore and understand the impact of changing variables. Use ICT based models to explore variables to solve problems. Add and amend a given ICT model to solve a problem through a review of the rules and variable.

NB: Where you see In order to progress in the planning this is intended for a small more able group

Using the Planning:

The Medium Term plans should form the basis of your planning for ICT: It is intended that units are not taught in isolation but key areas and skills are taught throughout the year in a cross curricular context incorporating elements of the units as appropriate.

The planning: is spilt into different sections:

• Key objectives:
• Key Skills: what the children will be doing
• Outcomes of teaching the whole unit
• Assessment Opportunities: To support assessment of ICT and again can be combined with other units
• We have also included
• Example Cross Curricular links and outcomes: These are just to give some ideas and indication of what this unit might include, we suggest you edit this area to and your own ideas  
• And a suggested software list: Again this is just a suggestion and not an exhaustive list. It would be expected for schools to edit this and their own software list

To use the plans

We would suggest you take a year overview initially and look at your other topics and see which units fit most appropriately with which topics. There are examples online at http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupWorkspaces.asp?GroupId=142195&WorkspaceId=76186

Use a grid like this to plan a yearly overview

Once you have done a long term overview you can begin planning the units in more detail.

I would suggest you take sections of the medium term plans and copy and paste into your short term plans.

It is also a good idea to highlight the planning to show what has been covered and when.

As we progress with the planning we will share examples of children’s work and examples of teachers planning.  These will be hosted on the Wokingham learning hub with the ICT schemes of work