This blog post is written by Computing specialist Simon Bradshaw.

Moving to a new Computing scheme of work can be a tricky business. Change can be difficult with an expanding timetable, workload, and the general all-around business of being a functioning primary school. Teachers often respond to the very idea of change with trepidation and a number of reasons why it will be the final of most final straws that finally breaks the camel’s back. 

How can schools ensure a smooth transition to a new curriculum?

Well it shouldn’t be that way. In fact it isn’t really the sole responsibility of the school to successfully implement a new scheme by themselves. Providers, such as Kapow Primary, should look at ways to make this as straightforward as possible, and provide strategies and resources to ensure a smooth transition. So whether you’ve come across Kapow Primary because you feel a certain subject needs a revamp, staff lack confidence, because you’d like to add more depth or ensure you have progression in your curriculum, we aim to make the journey towards a successful transition to our Computing scheme of work as easy as possible.

To this end we’ve just produced a new guide for Computing that will enable schools to transition easily to Kapow Primary.

Adopt Kapow Primary quickly and easily

This transition guide will provide teachers with some time and space to adapt easily and quickly to Kapow Primary, and build up their confidence in terms of subject knowledge across all strands of the Computing curriculum. More importantly it will help pupils attain the necessary skills to successfully access the content for their specific year group – vital if coming from a different scheme which may have organised their curriculum differently or if you have any concerns about where children currently are in terms of their progression of skills and knowledge.

Find a pathway of lessons

This guide provides a pathway of lessons, over one or two terms, from preceding year groups, that will solidify previous knowledge and skills but will also fill in any gaps required before they begin their own year group’s curriculum. For example, the Year 3 pathway contains 5 lessons from Year 1 and 2 which provide the building blocks for the knowledge and skills required to begin the Year 3 curriculum. Although this means that one of the existing Y3 units has to be omitted in this first year (and we’ve selected the most appropriate unit to omit to make sure that coverage is as comprehensive as possible) this half term “transition” unit could be well worth the time spent for both teachers and pupils. 

For some schools this transition guide may not be deemed necessary, but for any school worried about staff or pupil skills in Computing it might be an invaluable asset within their implementation of the scheme. 

Kapow Primary “in-built” CPD

Of course, we already offer in-built CPD via the teacher videos for each subject (and, in most cases, each lesson) to make the transition as smooth as possible, as well as Computing webinars and Computing essential subject materials. However, in our experience, the biggest barrier to taking on a new scheme is how easy or difficult staff find change and how pupils can sometimes not quite have the appropriate skills in place to immediately access a new curriculum successfully. This transition guide aims to remedy this and could well be the way forward for a number of schools that feel like a little extra support and development is required before they can begin implementing the Kapow Primary scheme of work successfully.