If you’re the computing coordinator in a primary school, you already know the challenge: you’re responsible for a subject that many of your colleagues feel underqualified to teach, with equipment that may or may not work, and a curriculum that’s evolved faster than most schools’ provision. The starting point for improving any of this is a proper audit. Not a tick-box exercise for SLT, but a genuine assessment of where your school stands.
Why Audit Your Computing Provision?
An audit gives you three things you can’t get any other way:
- Measurable benchmarks. Without knowing your starting point, you can’t measure improvement. An audit gives you data you can return to in six months or a year.
- Evidence for investment. When you go to your headteacher asking for CPD budget or new equipment, “I think we need it” is much weaker than “our audit shows that 70% of staff rate their confidence in teaching programming as low or very low.”
- Targeted CPD planning. Generic computing training wastes everyone’s time. An audit tells you exactly where the gaps are, so you can target support where it’s actually needed.
Three Areas to Audit
1. Computing Curriculum Coverage and Staff Skills
Map what’s actually being taught against what should be taught. The national curriculum has clear expectations for each key stage, and many schools have gaps they’re not aware of. Common blind spots include:
- Computer networks and how they work (often skipped entirely)
- Using logical reasoning to detect and correct errors
- Understanding how search engines rank results
- Data handling and database concepts at KS2
Alongside coverage, assess the skills of the staff delivering it. A teacher might be covering “programming” but if their own understanding doesn’t extend beyond Scratch, there’s a ceiling on what they can teach.
2. Staff Confidence
This is distinct from skills and arguably more important. A teacher with moderate skills but high confidence will deliver better computing lessons than one with strong skills but crippling anxiety about the subject. Survey your staff honestly. Ask them to rate their confidence in teaching each strand of the computing curriculum. The results will almost certainly highlight specific areas where targeted CPD support would make the biggest difference.
3. Device and Software Provision
Audit your hardware and software with a critical eye. How many working devices do you actually have? What’s the ratio of devices to children? Are the devices suitable for the computing curriculum (iPads are great for many things, but they have limitations for teaching programming)? What software and online platforms do you have access to, and are staff trained to use them?
What to Do with the Results
An audit is only useful if it leads to action. Use your findings to:
- Create a prioritised action plan for the next academic year
- Target CPD spending on the areas of greatest need
- Identify staff who could mentor or lead in areas of strength
- Build a case for investment in equipment or external support
- Set measurable targets you can review termly
Repeat the audit annually. Progress that feels invisible day-to-day becomes clear when you compare this year’s data with last year’s.
Need Support?
If you’d like help auditing your computing provision or developing a targeted improvement plan, our computing curriculum training is designed specifically for primary schools. We can help you identify gaps, build staff confidence, and create a curriculum that actually works. Get in touch to discuss what your school needs.
