‘We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that have not been invented, in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.’

– Karl Fisch

As new technologies continually emerge, we will strive to give all pupils the skills to prepare them for their future. Technology is an essential part of everyday life and will continue to evolve in as yet unforeseen ways. Our pupils will develop the skills to become confident, capable digital citizens, believing it’s possible to manage and embrace changes as they arrive.

Provision and Current Priorities

Online Safety

In order for pupils to emerge as safe and responsible users of information and communication technology, teaching and learning around online safety must remain at the forefront of our provision. In addition to every year group being taught a dedicated Online Safety unit over one term in their computing lessons each year, throughout all learning which involves accessing the internet, relevant discussions and reinforcement of SMART rules should take place, in order to nurture a culture amongst our pupils in which they understand how – and actively endeavour to – act as responsible digital citizens.

For more information, click here to visit our Online Safety page.

Coding

Through coding, pupils learn to develop and practise their computational thinking skills as they solve problems and design systems. Working with ScratchJr (KS1) and Scratch (KS2), pupils are encouraged to exercise invention, logic and resourcefulness to create and improve algorithms capable of achieving feats which excite and inspire, unlocking their understanding of the power and limits of human and machine intelligence.

Have a look at some of the great projects our pupils have created on Scratch:

Alex in Year 5 has made an amazing pong game. Follow the link to have a go at it!

Take a look at Matthew’s amazing Talent Show animation, made on Scratch:

Curriculum Overview

Pupils explore the many other aspects of computing through the Purple Mash scheme of work, as well as several other programs. An overview of our entire computing curriculum can be seen below.

For children’s computing learning to be truly meaningful, it must be embedded across a variety of curricular areas, used purposefully to aid and unlock otherwise unachievable tasks. Examples of this include: obtaining information from the internet, communicating with others online, using a wide range of apps and programs to support learning, and creating videos, music, social media posts and other digital media to enhance and present outcomes. We endeavour to provide children with as many opportunities as possible to use our computing resources to support their learning across every subject.

Assessment

The curriculum expects pupils to debug their own programs, use logical reasoning to explain simple algorithms (including their own), and detect and correct errors in both algorithms and programs. As such, self-assessment and reflective thinking form an integral part of computing and take place continuously. Further to this, pupils will complete an online self-assessment at the end of each unit to reflect on their learning, considering their achievements, as well as targets for the future.