• City Academy 236 pupils in Manchester
• FSM: 3.8%

Review rating:

Average rating across all Purple Mash reviews: 4.2/5

How well does it match the curriculum?

Well: It covers the curriculum as well as we expected

Great coverage and progression within and throughout year groups. It has detailed plans for teachers to follow and lots of examples of work to use as model examples.

How well does it support adaptation for different groups of pupils?

Well: A large majority of resources are suitably differentiated for pupils

Perhaps would benefit from a tool that allows an audio function to read the written work back to pupils. Also, in the online safety units, it would be good for more case study examples for pupils to comment on and say how/why the would deal with situations. This would help more vulnerable pupils.

How well does it engage and motivate pupils?

Brilliantly: Pupils love using and are excited when they know they are going to do so

Perhaps more use of real images rather than clip art images, particularly when designing games and activities.

How well supported is it by any included formative assessments?

Reasonably: There is some formative assessment included, but its usefulness is a bit limited

I have not come across any assessment tools for Computing specifically. However, there are quizzes for maths and English. Perhaps an assessment for them to complete for coding would be good, with some problem solving and questions around coding vocabulary.

How well does it support planning?

Brilliantly: It has everything you could need and is straightforward to use with classes

The plans are really detailed and therefore, teachers have all the information along with screen shots to explain the lessons clearly.

How well does it support home use / independent learning?

Well: Pupils could be expected to use this at home or independently, with a minimum amount of support or additional resources

You can set and differentiate work for pupils to complete at home. However, sometimes, the iPad version of Purple Mash does not work as effectively.

How would you rate it for value for money compared to similar resources?

Well: It’s worth the money and effort to introduce – more so than many similar resources I’ve seen

Perhaps more teaching videos for the common misconceptions with coding. Sometimes it is difficult to manage on a whole-class level as many pupils have separate issues to solve.

Would you recommend it to a colleague in a similar school to yours? 9/11

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