National Centre for Computing Education

Computing resources for home learning

National Centre for Computing Education -

To help support teachers, parents and students with home learning, our subject experts have put together a selection of activities and materials, all of which are completely free to access.

Home teaching programme

We are offering high-quality computing activities for students of all ages, which can be scheduled by teachers and parents as part of the school day. A timetable of sequential, topic-led activities and live Q&A sessions with our subject experts will be available during the summer term.

Teach Computing resource repository

Over the past year, we have been busy creating a comprehensive collection of materials to support 500 hours of teaching, facilitating the delivery of the entire computing curriculum from Key Stages 1 to 4. Units of work are available to download for free from our resource repository.

Each unit of work contains:

  • lesson plans: step-by-step plans, outlining the delivery of a single one hour lesson to students of varied abilities
  • slides: one per lesson, for use by the classroom teacher
  • worksheets: provided for both online and offline use by students
  • progression mapping: a visual representation of the stages encountered by learners within a particular topic and the structure of these stages, ie the relations between them
  • assessment: a multiple choice end of unit summative quiz, and formative assessment throughout

Home learning resources

Alongside our home teaching programme and resource repository, we have collated a variety of useful websites that can support with home learning of computing.

Primary

  • Barefoot (KS 1 and 2)
    Downloadable activities and games for children, links to live lessons and a guide for parents - includes cross-curricular lesson plans and resources that unpack computational thinking in a range of subjects.

  • Code Club (KS 2)
    Projects and activities for home learning and a parent guide.

  • STEM Learning e-Library (KS 1 and 2)
    An online resource bank, which links to resources on external websites. The site features a live chat function offering support from subject experts. New home learning resources are being developed.

  • Raspberry Pi Foundation – Digital Making at Home (KS 2)
    Join the weekly code-along using open projects based on a weekly theme, with different levels available for all abilities, allowing you to be open-ended with opportunities for making and creativity.

Secondary and GCSE

  • Code Club (KS 3)
    Projects and activities for home learning and a parent guide.

  • Isaac Computer Science (KS 4 and 5)
    Online platform primarily aimed at A level Computer Science students and teachers. However the content includes GCSE transition topics, for example Data Representation which would be useful to key stage 4 students. Teachers can set work for their students and assess their progress using the platform.

  • STEM Learning e-Library (KS 3, 4 and 5)
    An online resource bank, which links to resources on external websites. The site features a live chat function offering support from subject experts. New home learning resources are being developed.

  • Raspberry Pi Foundation – Digital Making at Home (KS 3)
    Join the weekly code-along using open projects based on a weekly theme, with different levels available for all abilities, allowing you to be open-ended with opportunities for making and creativity.

  • Code Club (KS 3)
    Code Club is a global network of free coding clubs for Key Stage 3 students. Participant online with these online materials and develop programming skills in Scratch, HTML & CSS and Python.

  • Student assessments on Eedi (KS 4)
    Available online are our online self-marking assessments that allow you to evaluate your students’ knowledge so you can use this information to guide your teaching. Teachers may find these useful to support their ‘Teacher Assessment’ grades for Year 11.

Transitioning from GCSE to A level

  • Isaac Computer Science
    For current Year 11 students who are looking to transition to A level computer science, Isaac Computer Science provides a freely available online platform to support students primarily with Key Stage 5 content. Also available on the platform is a GCSE transition section including several topics from the GCSE specifications ie data representation, programming concepts and Boolean logic, which can be used to support transition to A level.

AS/A level

  • Isaac Computer Science
    Online platform and live training events programme primarily aimed at A level Computer Science students and teachers. Teachers can set work for their students and assess their progress using the platform. Isaac will be offering worksheets on specific topics, as well as a course on Object Oriented Programming.