Computing & ICT

Through our computing curriculum at Shiplake CE Primary, we aim to provide our pupils with an exciting and engaging learning experience. We recognise the integral part technology has in our lives now and in the future. We aim to prepare our pupils for the rapidly changing world by providing them with the necessary skills to utilise and embrace this technology in a safe way, as socially responsible digital citizens. We model and teach the importance of how to use technology safely to all pupils and utilise events such as ‘Safer Internet Week’ and our shared PSHE assemblies to support this teaching further and share with our school community. We recognise the importance of a whole school community approach to keeping our pupils safe online and have a dedicated page on our website to share information with parents, as well as an online safety meeting delivered by a specialist. We have an E- Safety Policy that provides guidance for teachers and children about how to use the internet safely. Every year group participates in lessons on e-safety and children understand how to stay safe when using technology and when to recognise that they need support. Online safety is woven throughout our school, not just in dedicated units; staff recognise the importance of modelling how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely for our pupils.

The technology pupils use within school (iPads, laptops and PC’s) reflect the types of technology they have available at home. We are able to capitalise on this by using online home learning sites, for example Times Table Rockstars and Spelling Shed, to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. Further, pupil’s knowledge and ability achieved from home use is built on to allow pupils to move forward with their learning at a greater pace. Our technology is regularly maintained by an outside provider and a dedicated support desk so we can ensure a high level of performance for both staff and pupils.

Our skills and knowledge progression documents have been carefully planned to ensure our pupils cover the objectives of the National Computing curriculum, is inclusive and is delivered to reflect the needs of our pupils. At the centre of our computing curriculum is computer science, we want pupils to develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills and allow their creativity to flourish. Our computing curriculum provides learning opportunities, across other curriculum subjects too, allowing pupils to recognise their developing skills and how these relate to their role as part of our local and global community. This breadth of experience aims to give pupils increased confidence, the ability to develop their ideas and skills, reflect and evaluate on their achievements and express themselves using information and communication technology.

Our Computing Curriculum is organised around three main areas at present;

• Computer Science
• Information Technology
• Digital Literacy

These three main areas include the following key threshold concepts.

• Code – developing an understanding of instructions, logic and sequences (Computer Science).
• Connect – developing an understanding of how to safely connect with others (Digital Literacy).
• Communication – understanding how to use applications to communicate ideas (Information Technology and Digital Literacy).
• Collect – develop an understanding of databases and their uses (Information Technology).

By the end of Key Stage two we aim to ensure that pupils can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation, 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 and are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Our Computing curriculum has been built on the National Computing curriculum objectives and the key knowledge and skills to be developed and understood by the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. EYFS start developing their skills when they join the school across their curriculum and in particular in their ‘Understanding the World’ units. All year groups have a detailed knowledge and skills document which builds on previous learning. Teachers also have access to the following Year’s documents so progression is fully understood. This also enables teachers to ensure pupils are ready to progress as they move to the next year group.

Teachers carefully plan a sequence of lessons supported by our skills and knowledge progression documents to ensure pupils build on their previous knowledge. Each term a different area is covered and new skills and knowledge is introduced, however, certain threads of knowledge and skills our wound through our curriculum and occur in more than one topic. This is hugely beneficial when assessing pupil’s attainment. This planning allows both progression and depth for our pupils. Knowledge organisers are written too, outlining the skills and knowledge pupils will be learning within their topic. These include key questions, a ‘quiz’ to support knowledge ‘sticking’ and key vocabulary linked to the area.

All classes have a timetabled lesson each week in the Computing Suite. Laptops, iPads and further lessons can be booked as needed to support teaching of key skills and knowledge. Whilst some lessons require a more explicit Computing lesson, we also aim to embed our teaching across the curriculum. We understand the value demonstrating technology use can have in other subjects too. For example, a geography lesson could require pupils to conduct research using search engines effectively and consider the reliability of their results. This can then be built on by choosing an appropriate program to present information to an audience.

We encourage pupils to experiment and try technology, discuss and make choices on suitable programs to use to achieve a particular outcome and evaluate the impact/success of their choice.

We encourage the children to enjoy and value the computing curriculum we have, and take pride in their achievements. We want the children to grow into citizens who understand the need for a balance between technology, its use and a healthy life-style. This knowledge is something we wish for them to move forward with as they embark on the next stage of their education. Many of our Computing lessons link with our PSHE curriculum and involve discussion. By continued dialogue with pupils, teachers are able to assess how well pupils are achieving this balance.

Our Computing curriculum is planned carefully to demonstrate progression through dedicated Computing lessons and cross-curricular lessons. We measure the impact our Computing curriculum has by assessing how pupils are achieving within their lessons against the planned objectives. We use knowledge organisers to help embed key vocabulary and target specific questions before a unit of work starts and after. This allows teachers and pupils to discuss and reflect on their learning journey. Pupils work is saved on our network and showcased where possible by being published and displayed in school and via social media and our website. The combination of sequenced planning, discussion, observation, and sharing of completed work allows us to assess the impact our Computing curriculum is having.