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Supporting primary schools to teach computing

Funded by the Department for Education, the National Centre for Computing Education offers a comprehensive range of support for primary schools, including free classroom resources and high-impact teacher training, to drive school improvement and pupil outcomes.

Support for primary senior leaders

Prepare young people for the future by providing excellent computing education in your school. We are here to support senior leaders and your computing subject leads to upskills your staff, incorporate good practice and bring the subject to life.

Growth begins with identifying areas for improvement and working on them. Our comprehensive offer and support will help identify your computing needs and provide a targeted programme of support to help embed this key subject in your school. The NCCE can help you with:

Curriculum design

Subject knowledge

Physical computing kits

Real-world contexts

Subject matter experts support

Computing Quality Framework

The Computing Quality Framework helps you and your leadership team assess your computing offer. Use our guided journey to:

  • identify strengths and weaknesses in your computing curriculum
  • gain feedback and suggested actions, including relevant resources
  • track progress towards achieving our accredited Computing Quality Mark

You can also join a Computing Cluster to work collaboratively with other schools to improve your computing provision.

Register now

Guidance for offering computing

Our network of Computing Hubs is there to support you and your school to offer exemplary computing education for all.

Build confidence in your teachers

Build confidence in your teachers

Develop outstanding computing teaching, build confidence and reduce teacher workload with our quality assured CPD.

All courses are delivered free of charge for state-funded education, with subsidies available to eligible schools.

Explore all courses

Teach primary computing certificate

Teach primary computing certificate

Help your staff attain their career goals and meet the rise in pupil demand by building your teachers’ skills and knowledge.

Our learning pathways will guide teachers through our courses, enrichment and resources, leading to them achieving a certificate awarded by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

Those teaching computing for the first time can also access a range of support, including introductory courses and teaching resources.

Discover our Primary certificate

Download our Primary brochure

Download our Primary brochure

Find out more about the full National Centre for Computing Education offer, including how our CPD can aid your teachers' development, the certificates they can gain, and all the programmes that would benefit your school in developing your computing provision.

Read our brochure

I Belong: encouraging girls into computer science

Why do boys choose computing and girls don't? With I Belong we aim to support more girls into computer science qualifications and careers by providing your teachers with the tools to guide and inspire them.

Understand the barriers and develop strategies to overcome them with our curated resources, training and implementation support to empower you and your team.

Find out more

Resources

Building young peoples’ skills is an essential part of our commitment to developing a world-leading computing education. We have a wide range of free resources available to help your team support student development and hone their computing skill and knowledge, effectively preparing them for the world of tech and computing career opportunities.

Curriculum resources for Key Stages 1 and 2

Free, time-saving resources to enhance provision and support planning across the computing curriculum.

It includes teacher guides, curriculum maps, lesson plans, worksheets, homework, assessments and more, in formats that make it easy to adapt it to meet the needs of your learners.

Glossary of Primary computing terms

Vocabulary is an important part of teaching and learning. We have designed this glossary as a tool to support and enhance teachers’ professional knowledge.

For a teacher, a regular and consistent use of accurate, technical vocabulary can support pupils’ conceptual understanding.

Enrichment

Encourage your pupils to develop important life skills through enrichment and engage with the wider community in practical, enjoyable, and meaningful ways.

Our enrichment activities will help inspire curiosity in your pupils and broaden their educational experience with fun hands-on learning.

Inspire your students with Computing Ambassadors

Part of the STEM Ambassadors volunteer programme – Computing Ambassadors are people from a wide range of industries who can help bring your computing (and any other) lessons to life and provide real-world context, creating an invaluable link between schools and industry.

Computing Ambassadors can visit your school, introduce a topic, judge a competition or just show pupils who they can grow up to be in the future.

Find out more