VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
Why a virtual game of chuck-a-duck has mass IT appeal
(some of whose parents attended the school themselves). We also welcome lots of children who speak English as an additional language.
How long have you been at Ivy Chimneys? I’ve been at the school for four years. Over a decade ago, I decided to give up my corporate job travelling the world for a major investment bank. After the birth of my two children, I began helping out at their school on a voluntary basis. Staff suggested I think about teaching as a profession. I decided to take their advice and turned to my local School-Centred Initial Teacher Training hub where I specialised in maths and computing teaching.
Can you tell us a bit about how computing is taught at your school?
I
n our ever-popular View from the classroom feature, this month we are delighted to hear from Julie Kaleel, computing lead at Ivy Chimneys Primary School. Here, she discusses how the use of a pocket-sized computer is proving to be as easy as Q-W-E-R-T-Y.
Tell us about your school
We are located in the small village of Ivy Chimneys in Epping Forest. We are a very inclusive, forest-based community primary school with a one and a half form entry. In each class, about a tenth of children will have additional learning needs. We have locally based children
For a long time, our computing lessons used to take place in front of a computer. We taught coding, but lessons were limited to those who could sit at a desk in front of a computer and read instructions – something staff wanted to address.
In the summer of 2023, I was contacted by the Micro:bit Educational Foundation asking if we would like to receive a box of micro:bit devices. I instantly knew that introducing a portable computing device would be a gamechanger for our curriculum. More importantly, I knew it would open up the world of computing to children who had previously been unable to actively participate in computing lessons. The micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer designed to inspire
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creative thinking in children. It enables them to see how what they do with a code on-screen has a direct impact on the device they’re holding in their hand.
With a micro:bit, our children with SEND can engage alongside their classmates. Once a child enters a code into a laptop, the other can see the image of a heart, for example, on the device in the palm of their hand. This means every child can engage in a computing lesson. We will often end a lesson with a fun task, asking children to show whether they like chocolate, broccoli, pizza or PE. They press either the ‘A’ button on the front of the device for a happy face or ‘B’ for a sad face. These simple, fun activities help teachers across the school to bring computing to life for many more children.
Is the micro:bit used just in computing or is it incorporated across the curriculum? Absolutely! We’ve introduced it into our PSHE lessons, and it supports wider pupil wellbeing. By turning the device into an emotion badge, children can trigger a digital happy or sad face. It’s a discreet way for our children to reveal how they’re feeling instead of mustering the courage to tell their teacher.
We’ve turned our micro:bit into a step counter which children use when we take part in our Daily Mile activity. It’s a great way to instil messages about the importance of a healthy lifestyle at an early age. It also gets children to start thinking about data collection and machine learning. You program your micro:bit to recognise different
April 2024
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