CAS is for Teachers

The classroom teacher is at the heart of all we do at Computing At School.  Our goal is to build local communities of practice of both primary and secondary teachers through sharing resources and best practice, building dialogue and providing training.

These links should get you started on getting involved with and getting the best out of Computing At School.

I'm new to Computing - where do I start?

The Computing National Curriculum can be found here. This is just the basics of what you will need to teach. This has been explained in two CAS documents for teachers:

• CAS Secondary Guidance
• CAS Primary Guidance

We also have identified what we think teachers should know in order to feel confident delivering the Computing National Curriculum and this is specified in our subject knowledge document. There are many sample schemes of work uploaded in the Resources section shared by other teachers which you can use and adapt. Don't forget to add a comment for the person whose resources it is if you have found it useful.

Are there any good ideas to start me off?

A lot of the content in the Computing curriculum can be taught without access to computers so some good places to start looking for resources would be CSUnplugged and Teach London Computing. These sites have great ideas with resources that you can use. CS4Fn also has masses of material to make Computing engaging in the classroom.

There are some new Computing resources at  Code.org including some primary materials that you may find useful.

Collection of resources to get started with primary

For some general background reading for computer science, CAS members have suggested a number of inspirational books. The list is here.

Also take a look at these other websites:

• Exploring Computer Science - Exploring Computer Science is a yearlong course consisting of 6 units, approximately 6 weeks each.  From USA.
• The Beauty and Joy of Computing - an exciting new course offered by the UC Berkeley EECS Dept with freely available webcasts

What about assessment?

We have published a document called Progression Pathways to to support teachers in assessing their pupils' progress in computing from Key Stage 1 (Year 1) through to Key Stage 3 (Year 9).
 

What is going on in Computing At School?

The core CAS activity are the CAS Communities. Teachers in each CAS hub meet every term to share ideas and experiences. Find out where your local Community is by looking at our map.

The CAS website also has a Resources Page. Here you can share your resources with others and discuss key topics with other Computing teachers.

Find out more about Computing at School on our About Us and What We do pages.

Where can I get some support?

We recommend you join your local CAS Community and start talking to other local CAS members as they will be most able to help and support you. CAS is a community of practice made up of teachers, academics, industry professionals and others who have all joined to share and support each other. You can find out when your local community is meeting next on the community's page. 

Check out the list of events here.

How do I get more involved?

There are many ways in which you can get involved with Computing At School

• Sign up to your local CAS Community an go along to a meeting
• Consider becoming a Community Leader of an existing community or becoming a Community Leader of a new community if there is not a Community near enough to you.
• Consider becoming a Community Leader of an existing community or 
• Add a resource to the Resources area of the Community website.
• Post a Blog Article 
• Contribute to the Online Discussion Forum