Computing

Purpose of study

Preparing children for an ever increasingly digital world is critical to giving children transferable skills which will support them in later life. At St. Nicholas, we ensure children are able to use, express themselves and develop ideas through information and communication. We teach children how to stay safe online and how to use technology to enhance their and others’ lives.

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 Aims

When children leave Norton St Nicholas they will:

• Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts
• Use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output
• Use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs
• Understand computer networks, including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the World Wide Web, and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
• Use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
• Select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information
• Use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact

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Curriculum

Our teaching of Computing is blocked to allow children to develop their skills consistently over the course of a week or two in each half term. Over the course of the block, Chromebooks will be used for learning computing skills that develop the children’s knowledge and understanding of the key concepts outlined above. Children will also use Chromebooks across throughout the year for cross-curricular activities such as research, maths and word processing.

E-Safety is at the core of every computing session and is revisited every year at the beginning of the academic year and during E-Safety week (usually around March). It also links with our PSHE curriculum.

We use Kapow Primary for planning discrete computing sessions. This excellent resource gives children an exposure to a wide range of software and ensures they are having opportunities to become respectful and knowledgeable digital citizens. Kapow Primary helps to fulfil our aim that children will use a range of software for different purposes, much like pupils will experience later in life. https://www.kapowprimary.com/subjects/computing/

We also use Google Classroom as a starting point for learning across the curriculum, and set work for children using this, especially in KS2.