MCT Curriculum Statement
Curriculum Intent
At Humberstone Infant and Junior Academies, Media Communication and Technology (MCT) is a significant subject that is taught throughout all year groups in the trust. Our MCT curriculum connects and develops key subject knowledge and builds children’s confidence and ability to work with varied and ambitious technology. Our extensive curriculum covers a range of topics such as; coding, vector drawing, 3D modelling, animation and digital painting which is far beyond the scope of the National Curriculum for IT. The MCT curriculum also ensures that children are exposed to new and challenging vocabulary each year which also progresses in many subject areas as children move from EYFS, to KS1 and into KS2. At Humberstone, emphasis has been placed on the extensive computing curriculum as we understand the importance of computing in children’s future lives and want to equip them with the knowledge and skills to be successful and confident throughout their education and beyond.
E-safety is also taught directly in each year group to ensure children understand how to use technology safely and also how to protect themselves online. This important curriculum is a key focus throughout the schools, starting from EYFS, where by the end of F2 all children will have gained an understanding of what being online means, how to communicate safely online and who to talk to if they feel worried when using the internet. By the end of KS1, children will understand how people may look and act differently online, that information online can last a long time and how online bullying can make people feel. By the end of KS2 pupils will leave having an in-depth understanding of their responsibilities when being online, how to ensure you have a positive reputation online and how to be safe when using the internet.
By the end of EYFS and KS1 in MCT, children will have been taught a theoretical understanding of computing, looking at different types of computers in and out of school and how information technology improves our world. Children will also complete units of work on physical and computer coding, digital photography and digital painting. By the end of KS2, children will have developed their MCT knowledge further by looking at how computers connect to each other, how information is shared and how the internet works. Alongside these children will complete units of work on coding, animation, vector drawing and 3D modelling. This will enable children to be successful in higher education as well as their future careers. The MCT curriculum provides inclusive and practical lessons with opportunities that are carefully planned to be challenging but accessible for all children, regardless of their ability, understanding or starting point.
Alongside the MCT curriculum, children learn a detailed E-safety curriculum that covers all areas of safe internet and computer usage and more. Our E-safety curriculum is based on “Project Evolve” which has been created based on evidence from 330 statements on internet safety from UK councils. The topics that are covered in each year group throughout the year include; Online Bullying, Self Image and Identity, Online Relationships, Health Wellbeing and Lifestyle, Managing Online Information and Online Reputations. This extensive curriculum ensures that the message of online safety is of high priority and is taught to children in a meaningful, reflective and positive way. Children are encouraged to have honest discussions about challenging concepts while being provided with the knowledge and toolkits that they can use when using technology and being online. We want all children to leave us with an in-depth understanding of the importance of being safe online, how to be safe online, how to behave online and what to do if something happens online that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Implementation
Our MCT curriculum is based on the National Curriculum objectives and the “Teach Computing” scheme from the National Centre For Computing Education. The learning sequence for each year group is progressive and ambitious as well as providing opportunities for all children to learn new technological knowledge and subject vocabulary. Each year group has carefully sequenced knowledge ladders that have been developed using the National Curriculum objectives, and are used to support teacher assessment.
The scheme of work for each year group has been carefully chosen to be progressively challenging throughout kS1 and kS2. For example; pupils are introduced to physical coding using robots in EYFS and Ks1 and then build on this knowledge in KS2 where they learn how to create games, quizzes and logos through coding. The curriculum also provides and exposes children to new computing vocabulary to support them in their learning. As well as having a specific scheme of work for computing, MCT is used to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. For example in Maths, MCT is used to produce models and examples using iPads, as well as Beebots which are used to support learning in direction and movement. In English, videos are used to support the development of Oracy skills and pupils also use technology to present work or ideas in different ways through Padlet, PicCollage and Word. MCT is also used in our final outcomes in our projects to display and present high quality outcomes in different ways such as animation videos, online books and digitally created informational leaflets.
Impact
The MCT curriculum consistently reflects the wider school values of respect, positivity, resilience, creativity and excellence through its wide range of subjects in all year groups. The vision for MCT at Humberstone is achieved through well taught and sequenced computing lessons throughout the two schools and through technology that is skillfully embedded into the wider curriculum.
Monitoring shows that all year groups consistently provide a broad and balanced MCT curriculum from E-safety to specific computing knowledge with fidelity to the scheme of work. The online portfolios for each year group are checked frequently and provide strong evidence of high quality MCT outcomes demonstrates that the scheme of work is consistently embedded across all year groups. These folders hold examples of excellent work from pupils for each computing subject as well as project final outcomes that have used MCT.
Monitoring of the computing curriculum shows that teachers work hard to keep MCT at the forefront of learning at Humberstone. The variety of opportunities provided by the two schools show how rich, broad and diverse the MCT curriculum is at Humberstone Infant and Juniors from EYFS up to Year 6 which in turn provides students with the stepping stones for higher education and beyond. Lessons are taught with a high focus on the subject specific knowledge and key vocabulary which is evidenced through pupil interviews and final outcomes from lessons and projects. Pupil interviews also show the passion and excitement pupils have for the MCT curriculum with pupils enjoying the rich and creative lessons. Fidelity to the scheme of work ensures that children make strong progress with knowledge and vocabulary which builds each year as they progress through both schools. Well planned and evidence informed CPD throughout the year supports teachers with helping to understand and learn specific MCT subject knowledge and key technical vocabulary for the MCT curriculum.