Intent
At our school we want pupils to be MASTERS of technology and not slaves to it. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in students' lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology (especially social media) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education. 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 pupils. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils become skillful computer scientists. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers
Objectives
The national curriculum for computing has four main aims to ensure that all pupils:
- can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
- can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
- can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology
Implementation
At St Mary’s, we follow a comprehensive progression document designed from the computing scheme of work “Purple Mash”. This allows staff, including those who may not be specialized in the area of computing, to deliver the content of the computing curriculum to a high quality standard. The knowledge, concept and skills statements build year on year to deepen and challenge our learners. Pupils are taught about the importance of online safety in a way that is personal and relevant to them within their classes and as a whole school.
Curriculum
Key Stage 1
By the end of Key Stage 1 children should be able to:
- Understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions.
- Think of a cup tea, what steps need to be taken to make it? What decisions have to be made? Do you want milk? Do you want sugar?
- Program an objective to follow a specific route through coding. Links to maths, measuring, turning.
- Create and debug simple programs.
- Why does my cup of tea not taste right? Is it too sweet, too milky?
- Using coding to correct mistakes and achieve specific objects.
- Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs.
- If I put in two spoons of sugar will I like my cup of tea?
- If I use these specific instructions within my coding, what will happen?
- Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.
- Create a folder and save work
- Use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; know where to go for help and support when they have concerns about material on the internet.
- E-safety week
- 5 SMART Targets
- S– Safe – This gives the children an overview of how to keep safe on the internet, from what information to share online to who you are speaking to. As well as this the children are advised when and where to use personal devices, such as mobile phones and IPADS
- M – Meeting – This makes the children aware that meeting someone online is extremely dangerous and that it should not be done under any circumstances. ‘Online Friends Stay Online!'
- A– Accepting - This focuses on potential problems that can arise from opening unknown files,e-Mails, texts, etc
- R– Reliable – This shows the children how easy it is to be misled either on the internet or over the phone, via text. As well as this the children are made aware of the fact that not all the information they find and read online is always true
- T– Tell – This highlights that it is vital to tell somebody, like a friend, teacher, parent and now an E-Safety Ambassador if they have got any issues. We also cover Cyber-Bulling and its effect
- Recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.
- Learning Platform
- Create a poster in Publisher for all the technology they use at home
Key Stage 2
By the end of Key Stage 2 children should be able to:
- design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.
- Think of a cup tea, what steps need to be taken to make it? What decisions have to be made? Do you want milk? Do you want sugar?
- Program an objective to follow a specific route through coding. Links to maths, measuring, turning.
- use sequence, selection and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output
- Coding, repetition to draw shapes
- Links to science, changing variables having an influence on an outcome.
- use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.
- Draw out the algorithms (processes) for making a cup of tea, the tea is too sweet because the decision to add sugar wasn’t given a chance to follow on so it kept on adding
- understand computer networks including the internet; how they provide multiple services, such as the world-wide web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration.
- Using the learning platform to chat to peers and to communicate on joint projects together
- Skype on the tablets, video links between the classes on a shared learning day
- Use the learning platform to save work to, retrieving it and editing it in a variety of locations e.g. home and school
- use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked and be discerning in evaluating digital content.
- Using advanced searches
- Google is not the internet but is simply a search engine and there are others (Bing has a simple list of short cuts for advanced searches)
- use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; know a range of ways to report concerns and inappropriate behaviour.
- E Safety week
- 5 SMART target – see above
- select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.
- Topic Investigations – taking and retrieving photographs and using them on a computer. Creating spreadsheets and PowerPoints to present data and share findings while engaging in discussions.
- Tablets to find facts
- Internet to retrieve images
- Cameras to create a digital image
Impact
We encourage our children to enjoy and value the curriculum we deliver. We will constantly ask the WHY behind their learning and not just the HOW. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and well-being. Finding the right balance with technology is key to an effective education and a healthy life-style. We feel the way we implement computing helps children realise the need for the right balance and one they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond. We encourage regular discussions between staff and pupils to best embed and understand this. The way pupils showcase, share, celebrate and publish their work will best show the impact of our curriculum. We also look for evidence through reviewing pupil’s knowledge and skills digitally through Purple Mash, Seesaw and observing learning regularly. Progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes.
How as a school do we provide this?
- Progression of skills
- Each year group of certain skills they have to be taught. Each year they will build and extend these skills so that they all become masters of computing.
- We also follow a curriculum for e-safety which ensures clear progression for each year group – Education in a connecting world
- Cross curricular links
- Making sure that teachers use these computing skills in all areas of curriculum
- IPADS
- Each class will have access to ipads to use within their lessons
- Using apps to use and apply these skills
- Using apps to make their work more creative
- Using apps to make links between home and in-school learning
- Using them for research, recording or taking pictures
- Laptops
- Children will have access to laptops
- To use for internet research
- To use their word processing skills
- To have access to Microsoft office apps
- To have access to the programs outlined within our scheme of learning
- Purple Mash
- To have access to learning resources
- Provide staff with resources for using ICT skills cross curriculum
- Provide staff and children with the software need to access the new curriculum
Year 4 'Safer Internet Day' activities at school and at home:
Year 4 have loved working on their Digital Art! Have a look at some of their food faces:
Computing in Year Two: Learning how to be safe on the internet.
Year Two: word processing using microsoft word
More computing in Year Two
Our children will receive high quality teaching which will help them to develop their skills and knowledge in all areas of computing, whilst developing an appreciation of the relevance of computing in our society. They will develop their understanding of its limitations and their ability to use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. The children will have the confidence to explore new situations and problems, to attempt to find and fix errors and create ways of solving problems.
For anything E-safety related please go to our e-safety page here
Intent
At our school we want pupils to be MASTERS of technology and not slaves to it. Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in students' lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. We want our pupils to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology (especially social media) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education. 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 pupils. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for pupils to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our pupils become skillful computer scientists. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.
Implementation
At St Mary’s, we follow a comprehensive progression document designed from the scheme “Purple Mash”. This allows staff, including those who may not be specialised in the area of computing, to deliver the content of the computing curriculum to a high quality standard. The knowledge, skills and concepts statements build year on year to deepen and challenge our learners. Pupils are taught about the importance of online safety in a way this is personal and relevant to them within their classes and as a whole school.
Impact
We encourage our children to enjoy and value the curriculum we deliver. We will constantly ask the WHY behind their learning and not just the HOW. We want learners to discuss, reflect and appreciate the impact computing has on their learning, development and well being. Finding the right balance with technology is key to an effective education and a healthy life-style. We feel the way we implement computing helps children realise the need for the right balance and one they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond. We encourage regular discussions between staff and pupils to best embed and understand this. The way pupils showcase, share, celebrate and publish their work will best show the impact of our curriculum. We also look for evidence through reviewing pupil’s knowledge and skills digitally through Seesaw and observing learning regularly. Progress of our computing curriculum is demonstrated through outcomes and the record of coverage in the process of achieving these outcomes.