Preparing our pupils for the digital world; unlocking the potential

Computing Statement of Intent

Technology is changing the lives of everyone. Through teaching computing we equip our children to participate in a rapidly changing world where work and leisure activities are increasingly transformed by technology. 

It is our intention to enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information. We also focus on developing the skills necessary for children to be able to use information in an effective way. 

Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this. 

Computing Implementation 

The national curriculum for computing and our progress of skills within each milestone aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Confident in using code and can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including logic, algorithms and data representation
• When coding, pupils can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• Effectively communicate and can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• Able to connect with others responsibly and are competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology

In KS1, one of the ways we are teaching the pupils about the language and concepts associated with computer programming is by using Bee Bots and Pro-bots, which are simple programmable robots.

We following The Teach Computing curriculum. It is structured into units for each year group, and each unit is broken down into lessons. Units can generally be taught in any order, with the exception of programming, where concepts and skills rely on prior knowledge and experiences. Lessons must be taught in numerical order.

Within these units we introduce pupils to the programme we use for coding but a more simplified version - Scratch Junior. In this programme, pupils will be able to make their own backgrounds and move sprites across the screen. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively and reason systematically. The program is available to anyone as a free download and can be found by clicking on the link below

 https://scratch.mit.edu/

Computing Impact

We want all students to be able to thrive as responsible, digital citizens. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in our students' lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively and safely.

We want our children to be confident and competent using a range of technology and our broad computing curriculum includes computer science, digital literacy and online safety. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for our SEN pupils.

By the end of Key Stage 1, we want all children to have a range of computing skills that will act as a spring board for their future computing education to be flexible, creative, responsible and confident users of technology, who are able to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.