When you join CAS you join a community of over 11,000 professionals. We are teachers, academics, industry professionals, school governors, parents etc.. CAS does not have bright shiny offices with staff. We are reliant on the many committed professionals who run regional hub meetings, deliver local CPD courses, contribute to the online forum and post their teaching resources to the community site. There is no them - only us!

The CAS community has been instrumental in the development of the new curriculum and are 100% committed to supporting all teachers as they engage with computing, and in particular computer science, when the new curriculum is introduced in September 2014.

Computing in the national curriculum: a guide for secondary teachers

This free guidance has been developed by Computing at School to help secondary school teachers get to grips with the new curriculum for computing. The guide demystifies the programme of study and gives easy to follow support for planning, teaching and assessing computing. Printed copies will be arriving in schools towards the end of June (so look out for them!) but please freely share this digital copy with colleagues. We hope you find it useful as you prepare for September!

Click the image to download!

CAS/BCS Certificate of Computing Education

Computing At School offers a unique accreditation for teachers of Computing, providing professional recognition offered and accredited by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

There is now a considerable amount of CPD available to teachers through the Network of Excellence (master teachers and universities offering low-cost training) and other providers. Teachers of Computing who have previously taught ICT are undertaking significant amounts of CPD to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills to teach the new curriculum. It is important to acknowledge and recognise the significant amount of professional development that teachers have been engaged in in order to be able to deliver the new Computing qualifications and the new curriculum. Teachers need professional recognition that they are competent teachers of the the computer science elements of Computing and this certificate provides that.

• Read more ...
• Register your interest
• Become an assessor

CompuCrazy at Park House!

Pete Marshman (Park House School) writes:

CompuCrazy was primary Computer Science experience hosted at Park House School in Newbury, Berkshire funded by both the IET and CAS/BCS.  The event, also run the previous year, involved over 300 primary pupils from Years 4 and 5 from 10 different primary schools.  The objective of the event was twofold; firstly, to provide pupils with a rich and interactive experience of Computer Science and to provide accompanying KS2 teachers with ideas for how to deliver the Computing curriculum using both plugged and unplugged activities.    These activities were delivered by experienced Computer Science teachers and have involved organisations such as IBM, Blackberry, the University of Reading and Queen Marys College.

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The CAS Newsletter

There is something of interest to all CAS members and the wider teaching community. Resources and ideas shared by teachers, both primary and secondary. There is also a section on the Network of Excellence for those new to CAS who aren't familiar with current developments.

Download the latest issue of our newsletter here. The newsletter is produced once a term and is packed with articles and ideas for teaching computer science in the classroom. This issue takes a good hard look at the run up to the introduction of the new Computing curriculum in September 2014 and contains several articles aimed at advising teachers as they begin to plan their curriculum.  CAS CPD coordinator, Mark Dorling, kicks off by offering a framework around which teachers can start to plan. Colleagues from around the UK, particularly primary teachers, share their advice and approaches to curriculum planning and rewarding achievement. The middle pages provide a suggestion for progression pathways which you can "cut out and keep". In between you'll find features and reports of exciting things already being done by teachers at the cutting edge. We hope SWITCHEDON reflects the energy and enthusiasm of an emerging 'community of practice'. That community will be gathering for the sixth annual CAS Teacher Conference on June 21st. Join us for a day of talks, discussion, workshops and sharing. The atmosphere is infectious. Places are going fast, so register quickly.    Previous issues

Sample Articles Designing a new computing curriculum (Mark Dorling) Key Stage 1 Curriculum advice (Emma Goto) Adapting your curriculum - step by step guide (Taryn Hauritz)

Countdown to Computing

In association with:

8th April 2014: With the new Computing curriculum coming into force across UK primary and secondary schools in September, Microsoft and Computing At School (CAS) are joining forces to help teachers inspire a new generation of young people. Backed by a 334,000GBP investment from Microsoft, CAS is holding a series of 'Back to School' training sessions to show teachers how they can take the complexity of Coding and Computer Science and make it engaging to the touch screen generation.

"How do you explain an algorithm to a class of 6 year olds and make it fun? We have a real opportunity here to excite and inspire the next generation of games developers if we get this right. But we need to move fast to bring the curriculum to life and grab the interest of kids in that very first term." (Claire Lotriet, ICT Coordinator, Henwick Primary School)

The 'Countdown to Computing' programme will see Microsoft and CAS create two training courses for teachers; one for primary and one for secondary, together with supporting classroom resources that teachers can use in their first term. Using the CAS hubs, experts including the CAS master teachers will deliver face-face training across the country with 2,500 local events. There will also be more flexible training options via Skype so that all teachers can make the most of the training and resources available.

• Find out more about the Countdown to Computing project
• Register your interest
• Apply to join the team!  We are hiring NOW!

Barefoot Computing

Funded by the DfE, led by BCS the Charterted Institute for IT, in partnership with BT, the Barefoot project will be developing cross-curricular teaching resources to help Primary teachers understand how they might incorporate key parts of the new computing curriculum within existing lessons.

Alongside these resources will be self-teach materials, so that teachers can develop their own understanding of the concepts and practices of computing. And starting in July 2014 through to May 2015, free in-school Barefoot computing workshops for teachers will be available to Primary schools across England.

• Visit the Barefoot website
• Download more information
• Design a mascot for Barefoot competition:  The competition is aimed at pupils in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 with separate categories for each Key Stage - winning entries will receive iPads - one for the pupil and one for the school/teacher. The pupil will also receive a professionally drawn version of their mascot.  (Entry limited to schools in England). Find out more 

From our partners

Ocado Technology launches Code for Life

Ocado Technology's Code for Life initiative has been developed to help teachers deliver the new curriculum, so they can inspire the next generation of computer scientists.

But this is just the beginning. Over the next couple of years, this initiative will be expanded to support pupils throughout their school career, from age five to 16, and beyond.

Rapid Router marks the first step in this journey. It is a free, comprehensive Key Stage 1 and lower Key Stage 2 teaching resource and web application, designed for, and tested by, primary school teachers.  Find out how to register and more information