Computing

COMPUTING STATEMENT

INTENT

It is our intention to provide a high-quality computing education so that children understand the pivotal role technology plays in their lives and equip them to participate in a rapidly changing digital world. Through our computing curriculum, we aim to give our pupils the life-skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way; leading to our pupils being able to operate in the 21st century workplace. At Burghfield St Mary’s we strive to inspire our learners to become autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We want the use of technology to support learning across the entire curriculum and to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want them to be digitally literate and competent users of technology, but through our computer science lessons, we want them to develop creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills by learning how to be ‘computational thinkers’. The breadth of experience of computing at Burghfield St Mary’s should develop pupils’ understanding of themselves, as individuals within their community, but also as members of a wider global community and as responsible digital citizens.

IMPLEMENTATION

Computing at Burghfield St. Mary’s is taught in line with the National Curriculum. At Burghfield St Mary’s we follow a comprehensive and hands on approach to the Computing curriculum based on the Kapow scheme of work. The Kapow Primary Computing scheme of work is underpinned by a clear progression of knowledge and skills, designed to develop pupils’ understanding of computer science, information technology, and digital literacy. Through a spiral curriculum approach, key concepts and skills are revisited and built upon throughout the primary years, enabling pupils to deepen their understanding and make connections between previous and new learning. The scheme ensures that units are sequenced progressively from one year group to the next, supporting all pupils to develop confidence, competence, and creativity in computing. Online safety is also taught through PSHE (SCARF) units. This raises the profile of computing within the school and the children’s minds, and illustrates how computing is part everyday life. This reinforces learning taught in discrete lessons. We have a class set of laptops for Key Stage 1, and individual chrome books for children in Key Stage 2. We also a half class set of tablets that all year groups have the opportunity to use across the wider curriculum.

IMPACT

Our approach to the curriculum results in a fun, engaging, and high-quality computing education for our children. The quality of the children’s learning is evident in lessons, where pupils can share and evaluate their own work, as well as that of their peers. This evidence, of evaluating the knowledge and skills gained by the pupils, is used to feed into teachers’ future planning. This supports varied paces of learning and ensures all pupils make good progress and become fluent, confident users of technology.