Computing

Aims

Computers are now part of everyday life. For most of us, technology is essential to our lives, at home and at work. ‘Computational thinking’ is a skill children must be taught if they are to be ready for the workplace and able to participate effectively in this digital world.

The new national curriculum for computing has been developed to equip young people in England with the foundational skills, knowledge and understanding of computing they will need for the rest of their lives. Through the new programme of study for computing, they will learn how computers and computer systems work, they will design and build programs, develop their ideas using technology and create a range of content.

Our aims in teaching Computing are that the children will:

• Learn how to apply computational thinking to problem solving
• Learn how to program in a number of environments
• Understand programming in ‘real world’ contexts such as control systems
• Be excited about new developments in technology and learn to understand the mechanisms behind these tools
• Apply the use of technology across the curriculum

Organisation

Head of Department – Mr T Hughes

Computing is taught by the class teachers in Reception and Year 1 in either one of the Pre Prep computer rooms. From Year 2 classes are delivered on a subject specialist basis in our well-quipped computer room by the Head of Department.

All computers in the School are networked and benefit from filtered access to the internet, as well as the School VLE. The School also has extensive resources across all departments, including interactive whiteboards and new 5 point touch interactive monitors in teaching rooms and all teaching staff benefit from the use of laptops. There are class sets of Apple iPads which teachers can book for use in their lessons, while pupils in Years 6-8 are provided with a School-owned iPad for their individual use in connection with School work. We synchronise learning with other departments, for example logging data from our weather sensor (Geography) and building control systems to run student creations in DT. We are also using Lego Mindstorms and Raspberry Pi, BBC Microbits, Sphereo’s and we have incorporated a greater focus on gaming in the curriculum including a new esafety programme.

Content

The children learn specific skills and then develop these through activities and projects. Our pupils develop skills in programming and debugging, project management, game creation, building Apps, Photography, office skills, spreadsheets, database skills, using the internet safely and efficiently, emailing and graphics.

The School Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has been designed to encourage the children to have access to exemplary pieces of work and links to selected websites, which support the curriculum. The children are also able to access the VLE and Office 365 from home.