Computing

Children take part in discrete Computing lessons in both their own classroom and the Computing suite. They are taught lessons from the whole school plan, where skills are built upon through each unit covered. Teachers also respond to the immediate interests and needs of the children using current affairs and resources such as those available on the National Online Safety site (shared via our Twitter site) or in the news to ensure that children are presented with contemporary information to see the relevance of their learning to their current and future lives.

The children use selected carefully sequenced units of work from Purple Mash to build upon prior knowledge and concepts to progressively develop their understanding of computer science across the school. There is a greater focus upon information technology skills in Key Stage 2 in preparation for the children’s next stage of education. We use CEOP, Rising Stars and Project Evolve resources at the start of every half term with all the children so that they leave us as responsible digital citizens who display our values when using technology. The children and their families take part in annual online safety events as we are working towards achieving the Online Safety 360 mark to recognise the importance we place upon this life skill.

Our blended curriculum, which is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is relevant to our children, as well as take into account current developments, ensures that children are engaged in lessons that are purposeful. Their work is evidenced on our Shared Drive so that children can share and evaluate their contributions, as well as that of peers and so that it is used to inform teachers planning. Children make use of vocabulary appropriate each progressive unit of work when communicating their understanding. The children use a variety of hardware and software on different platforms at school so that they can transfer these skills into their own environments. Our focus on digital citizenship means that regardless of device or application, the children display our values when using them independently.