Computing Curriculum Review

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iCompute already has it covered!

Computing curriculum reform

The Curriculum and Assessment Review recently published its final report, Building a world-class curriculum for all(November 2025), alongside the Government’s response.

For Computing, the message is simple: the curriculum needs updating so pupils develop the knowledge and confidence to fully participate in the digital world — and to use technologies safely, creatively and effectively.

Artificial Intelligence is a significant part of that, and it isn’t something schools will be able to ignore.

At iCompute, we are proud to be the first ever scheme of work that both teaches about AI and uses AI as part of learning computing across all Key Stages. That pioneering spirit is central to everything we do. For over a decade, thousands of teachers have trusted iCompute because of our expertise and innovation in computer science education.

We are always ahead of the curve – anticipating change and embracing new technologies that make teaching and learning richer and more relevant.

Digital literacy is key

The curriculum review highlights that digital literacy is not just “being good at using devices”. Digital literacy includes the skills, behaviors, and confidence needed to use technology creatively, safely, and effectively. It also invoves making informed decisions about the implications, risks, and impacts of digital technology. Being digitally literate helps children adapt, and do well in the modern world, use technology responsibly, and actively participate in learning across all subjects.

The review also makes clear that schools should not assume children will develop these skills automatically. Advances in AI and generative AI have made digital literacy even more critical.

Computing is expected to remain the main subject responsible for delivering this.

Artificial Intelligence has changed the digital world

The Review states that recent developments in AI and generative AI make digital literacy even more important. While the long-term impact of AI remains uncertain, children should understand how it works, its capabilities, strengths and its limitations.

The revised Programme of Study is set to explicitly incorporate AI.

What we’re already doing

At iCompute, we have been teaching the skills described in the Review for years.

Digital literacy is already built into our curriculum

This includes safe use of technology, critical thinking, online responsibility and practical digital skills.

AI is already taught across the primary phase

We already teach three separate six-week AI units, and have more to come. These are throughout the primary phase:

  • KS1
  • Lower KS2
  • Upper KS2

This means pupils revisit the topic in an age-appropriate way, building understanding as they mature.

Start teaching a computing curriculum fit for today, now

Schools shouldn’t have to wait until 2028. The Government’s timeline is sensible for national reform, but schools can’t pause their children’s education until the refreshed curriculum arrives. AI is already shaping how children search, learn, communicate, and decide what to trust online. That is why the Review is right to highlight digital literacy and AI as essential areas for Computing.

At iCompute, we agree — and thats why we’re already delivering it.

Sign up for a freel trial at icompute-uk.com to see how iCompute can help you teach the revised computing curriculum like a specialist.

Why Children Must Learn About Artificial Intelligence

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Child learning about Artificial Intelligence

The school gates have opened again and a new academic year begins. For those of us teaching computing in primary schools, this is an exciting opportunity to inspire young minds with the technologies shaping their world. At the top of that list is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

AI is All Around Children

Whether they realise it or not, our pupils already interact with AI every day. From asking Alexa to play their favourite song, to Netflix suggesting the next programme to watch, or face recognition unlocking their phones – AI is woven into daily life. It is no longer a distant concept, but a real and present part of children’s every day experiences.

Understanding Advantages and Possibilities

As educators, we have a responsibility to help pupils see how AI can be a powerful tool for good. Explaining how navigation apps choose the quickest route, how translation tools break down language barriers, or how medical AI can assist doctors makes this technology tangible and inspiring. These examples open children’s eyes to the possibilities that AI brings to their lives and the wider world.

Recognising Limitations

But, equally, it is important that pupils understand what AI cannot do. For example, while a chatbot can answer simple questions, it cannot feel emotions or truly “understand” like a human. While AI might recommend a video game, it doesn’t know if that choice is appropriate for their age. AI is only as good as the people behind it. It can be biased and it can be just plain wrong. By using examples children can relate to, we can help them build a healthy scepticism and critical awareness of AI’s limitations.

Leading the Way with iCompute

At iCompute, we are proud to be the first ever scheme of work that both teaches about AI and uses AI as part of learning computing across all Key Stages. That pioneering spirit is central to everything we do. For over a decade, thousands of teachers have trusted iCompute because of our expertise and innovation in computer science education. We are always ahead of the curve – anticipating change and embracing new technologies that make teaching and learning richer and more relevant.

AI-Powered Teaching Support

That’s why we’ve developed our very own AI-powered Computing Teaching Assistant. Exclusively trained on primary computing and the iCompute curriculum, it puts expert help at teachers’ fingertips. It makes delivering lessons simpler, faster, and more effective – allowing us, as teachers, to spend more time focusing on our pupils.

Shaping the Future Together

This academic year gives us a chance to equip children not just with digital skills, but with the curiosity and critical thinking they’ll need in an AI-driven world. By leading the way in teaching computing and harnessing the power of AI, iCompute ensures that both teachers and pupils are prepared for the future.

Sign up for a freel trial at icompute-uk.com to see how iCompute can help you teach primary computing like a specialist.

Developing Computational Thinking

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Preparing The Next Generation of Problem Solvers

Computational Thinking Brain image

Computational Thinking

“A high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the World” (DfE)

Computational Thinking lies at the heart of the National Curriculum for Computing.  Here, I look at what Computational Thinking means and how teachers can help pupils develop effective problem solving skills that can be applied in all areas of life.

Computational Thinking is about transforming a seemingly complex problem into a simple one that we know how to solve.  It involves taking a problem and breaking it down into a series of smaller, more manageable parts (decomposition). Each part can then be looked at individually, considering similarities between and within other problems (pattern recognition), and focusing only on the important details whilst ignoring irrelevant information (abstraction). Next, looking for solutions to other problems and adapting them to solve new problems (generalisation).  Then, simple steps or rules to solve each of the smaller problems can be designed (algorithms).  Once we have a working solution, we then use (evaluation) to analyse it and ask – Is it any good ? Can it be improved? How?

Teaching computational thinking is not teaching children how to think like a computer.  Computers cannot think.  Computers are stupid.  Everything computers do, people make happen.  It’s also not teaching children how to compute.  It’s developing the knowledge, skills and understanding of how people solve problems.  As such, it absolutely should not be confined to computing lessons and should be used throughout the curriculum to approach and solve problems and communicate and collaborate with others.

iCompute’s computational thinking puzzles for primary pupils are a ground-breaking new development in primary education. In the digital age, the benefits of computational thinking throughout education are increasingly being highlighted. Our, colourful, engaging and challenging puzzles are designed for children aged 7-11 to independently practise and develop the fundamental computational thinking skills that lie at the heart of the National Curriculum for Computing.  The puzzles help develop skills of decomposition, abstraction, generalisation and designing algorithms. This means children can find solutions and apply those already found to different problems, in different contexts. All of this helps lay the foundations for them to become effective problem solvers.

Solving puzzles leads to important outcomes including challenge, a sense of satisfaction, achievement and enjoyment. Puzzles rouse curiosity and hone intuition. Our carefully constructed computational thinking puzzles – designed by a computer scientist, software engineer and computer science master teacher – provide challenge, insight and entertainment all of which increase pupil engagement and promote independent learning.

Puzzles help children develop general problem-solving and independent learning skills.  Engaging in puzzles means that pupils:

  • use creative approaches
  • make choices;
  • develop modelling skills;
  • develop persistence and resilience;
  • practice recognition of patterns and similarities, reducing the complexity of problems

 Pupils use, applying and develop the following aspects of the National Curriculum for Computing:
* Logical reasoning
* Decomposition – splitting problems down into smaller problems to make them easier to solve
* Abstraction – taking the detail out of a problem to make it easier to solve
* Generalisation – adapting solutions to other problems to solve new ones
* Pattern recognition – spotting patterns and relationships
* Algorithms – finding the steps that solve a problem
* Evaluation – looking critically at a solution to determine if there’s a better way to solve it
* Testing – checking whether a possible solution works
* Debugging – finding problems with a solution and fixing them

Our puzzles are designed for independent pupil work and provide pupils with handy tips on how to approach the problems and challenges. They also make clear links between the puzzles being approached, the skills being developed and the relevance of both not just in computing but the wider world. This enables pupils to make clear links between subjects and helps pupils make meaning of their learning.

See this post for an example of the puzzles.

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Free Halloween Computing Lesson

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Create a Halloween Web page with HTML

Free Halloween Computing Lesson

Click to download

Teachers and pupils alike love a themed lesson so I’ve created a new activity for Halloween computing that teaches basic HTML/CSS for pupils aged 9-11.

Each term, I create free themed computing lessons and I’ve written another step-by-step lesson plan and some teacher/pupil computing resources that I’m using in my computing classes and have added to iCompute’s primary computing schemes of work.  This activity has been adapted from a cross-curricular computing lesson in iCompute Across the Curriculum.

Halloween is approaching and you’re having a party! Using basic HTML and CSS your pupils will create an invitation to their party in the form of a web page.  In this activity children learn how HTML formats web content and CSS styles it using age-appropriate syntax and tools.

Halloween Invitation

Includes HTML tutorial

Ideas for differentiation, extension and enrichment are included in the lesson plan.  Plus HTML Mozilla Thimble tutorial for teacher and pupil support. Lots of opportunities to be inspired and get creative!

Cheat Sheet

Check out my other free seasonal primary computing lesson plans and resources elsewhere on this blog and by visiting icompute-uk.com/free-stuff.html

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Halloween 🎃 Computational Thinking Puzzles

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Scarily Good Free Resources for Primary Computing

Help your pupils get dead  good at problem solving using key computational thinking skills such as abstraction, decomposition, generalisation and pattern spotting with our free Halloween themed puzzles.

Computational thinking lies at the heart of the National Curriculum for Computing and our best selling (Educational Resources Awards nominated) series of Computational Thinking Puzzle books 1-4 help pupils independently practice the skills they learn in their computing lessons.

Grab yourself a treat with our free puzzles for Halloween.  Visit www.icompute-uk.com for more free themed lesson plans and resources to support teaching primary computing.

lesson image

Download the puzzles

Editable & Printable Scratch Blocks

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Scratch Classroom Display & Unplugged Activities

iCompute Scratch 3.0

Scratch 3.0 Blocks

This version is for Scratch 3.0 and includes all category blocks along with Extensions: Microbit, Makey Makey, Video Sensing, Pen, LEGO WeDo, LEGO EV3, Music, Text to Speech and Translate.

Available to download by clicking/tapping the Periodic Table of Scratch 3 Blocks image (see below).  The blocks can be edited and scaled using image editing tools (e.g. Illustrator, Inkscape, Vectr).  The blocks are also provided in .png format.

It’s important that children be given opportunities to interact with physical programming blocks to help them understand both their function and the underlying concepts.  I use them in groups for the children to program me and/or each other as well as programming using Scratch 3 itself.

Scratch Blocks

Click to Download

Published by iCompute and licensed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.

Also available in the same format are Scratch 2.0 blocks and Scratch Jr blocks from this post.

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Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Improve Teaching and Learning

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I’ve been busy this last few months creating two units for our computing curriculum about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. It has, however, been less busier than usual creating the content because I’ve been using AI to help me!

I have access to and have used a variety of AI tools. I have ChatGBT 4, DALL-E, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, Vyond and SchoolAI. All of which have AI features.

Of all the tools I used, SchoolAI has been the quickest, most intuitive and most effective for teaching purposes in reducing workload and helping create challenging, engaging, activities for my pupils.

I started with the Syllabus and Course Outline tools, inputing the unit objectives for a series of progressive 6 week lessons. With this as a spring board, I adapted where necessary and then used it as a basis for creating 6 lesson plans. Using high quality, specific, prompting, the tool helped create engaging hands-on practical learning activities, which I tweaked by generating differentiated (easier/harder) activities.

I used the worksheet tool, which also incorporated generated AI images. Build Your Own for worksheets and storyboard templates. I created my own AI space for pupils to engage with a Turing Test (where children ask an AI chatbot questions to find out whether they’re talking to a human or not). I also used the rubric tool for the end of unit assessment guidance.

I’m incredibly impressed with SchooAIs potential. Used judiciously, it could transform teaching and learning. As with all AI tools, it’s all about the prompting! An AI’s output is directly related to the quality of the input. So what you ask SchoolAI tools to do, should be well thought out, specific and, crucially, checked and adapted where necessary.

Artificial Intelligence Unit

Get an SchoolAI account yourself and explore the possibilities. Also, visit icompute-uk.com for the AI and Machine Learning units for Year 4 and Year 6 that AI helped me create.

Free Valentines Day Coding Lesson

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Cupids Arrow

Valentines Day – Spreading the Love with Code!

Play and code this Valentines day with our free coding activity: a romantic themed Cupid game for pupils aged 7-11 using Scratch.

Throughout the year, I create free themed computing lessons, and I’ve written another step-by-step lesson plan and some teacher/pupil computing resources that I’m using in my computing classes and am adding to iCompute to celebrate Valentines Day.

Love is in the air but Cupid needs a little help aiming his arrow!  Challenge your pupils to program Cupid’s bow to respond to user input and aim to catch the heart of a love interest.

Valentines Day Coding Game

 

Ideas for differentiation, extension and enrichment are included in the lesson plan.  Plus program templates and partially-written programs for teacher and pupil support. Lots of opportunities to be inspired and get creative!

 

Check out my other free themed primary computing lesson plans by visiting icompute-uk.com/free-stuff

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Pancake Day Computational Thinking Problem

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Flipping Fabulous Pancake Day Problem

Help your pupils get flipping fabulous at problem solving using key computational thinking skills such as abstraction, decomposition, generalisation and pattern spotting with this free Pancake Day problem.

Computational thinking lies at the heart of the National Curriculum for Computing and our best selling (Educational Resources Awards nominated) series of Computational Thinking puzzles help pupils independently practise the skills they learn in their computing lessons.

Grab yourself a treat with this free Shrove Tuesday resource.

Visit www.icompute-uk.com for more free themed lesson plans and resources to support teaching primary computing.

pancake puzzle
Click to download

Ofsted Inspection Framework: for Computing Subject Leaders

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Inspecting Computing

The Ofsted Inspection Framework [3] came into effect in September 2019.  With the emphasis on ‘offering a curriculum that is broad, rich and deep’, here I take a look at its implications for Computing Subject Leaders.

Download my full guide on how iCompute can help your school demonstrate a quality computing education through the ‘Three I’s’ and during a Deep Dive.

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