After talking to a number of colleagues in special schools and on Twitter, I decided to organise an SEND Computing Conference to help share ways of adapting the curriculum for learners with special educational needs and disabilities. We held it at the National STEM Centre in York, which is a…
This week I spent a day at the wonderful National Science Learning Centre in York learning about the BBC micro:bit on a Computing at School roadshow. The micro:bit is a very simple computer that is being sent out to schools this year for every year 7 pupil to enable them…
This is the second post about the SEN Computing Day held at the Sheffield South City Learning Centre on the 6th February – it is posted again here due to a change in website. You can read part 1 here. Afternoon session – looking at the KS2 Computer Science elements…
This post has been copied over from the old website, and refers to a conference held in February 2014 Last Thursday 16 teachers from special schools in Sheffield, Derbyshire and Doncaster descended upon the CLC to look at the new Computing Curriculum and how the computer science elements can be taught to…
The Computing curriculum has changed what is taught in schools, of all types and phases, but the means of assessment for those who have not yet reached National curriculum levels, the P Scales, have not been altered. There is a fundamental mismatch between the curriculum and the means of recognising…
I attended a Hack the Curriculum event last week in London with a number of teachers and digital industry professionals to start work on a Wikibook for KS3 Computing. It was organised by #include – a working group of Computing at School who are working to make Computing accessible for…
A number of schools have reported problems installing and running the BlackCat suite of software on Windows 7. All the Blackcat titles on Windows 7 Home have been tested and found the following: Decisions3 Version 1.1.0.8 Works properly – no issues Fresco Version 1.15 Works properly – no issues. We’re…
This post is a collection of ideas about Secondary Computing that have arisen from two years of work on these issues with and for schools. In particular I have been heavily involved in the last three months in working with a CAS (Computing at School) Master Teacher and a couple…
Lesson 2 – Introducing the idea of writing programs (algorithms) as sequences of instructions. Creating simple programs to make a Beebot move. – Introduction – Revisit the objects shown in Lesson 1, reminding about controlling technology. – Getting Dressed sequences – IWB resource with items of clothing on, to talk…
I have spent some months now looking at Computing activities to do with learners with special needs, ahead of the new curriculum that comes into force in September. During the last couple of weeks I’ve finally managed to teach a few classes to try them out. Firstly I was really…
