Computing

At Burton Green Primary school, we welcome the opportunity to use and experience a range of new technologies in an ever changing digital world. We encourage children to become independent learners and thinkers by developing the key skills that they will need for their future in the three key areas of Digital Literacy, Information Technology and Computer Science.

Through the use of the published scheme, Kapow, children 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. 

We ensure that children have a secure knowledge of online safety and develop the skills to tackle any upsetting or inappropriate content that they may tackle.

Intent

Following the National Curriculum for computing, we aim to provide a curriculum that:

• Provides children with an exciting, high-quality, computing education
• Uses digital devices to enhance the teaching of the National Curriculum
• Ensures that children have a secure knowledge of e-safety and develop the skills to tackle any inappropriate or upsetting content
• Ensures that children understand the term ‘digital footprint’ and understand how they can take steps to become safer when being online
• Ensures that computing is used, where appropriate, to improve access for learning for pupils with a diverse range of individual needs

Implementation

During the planning process, teachers should ensure that:

• Lessons provide a progression of skills and a deep understanding
• Assessment is used to inform teaching
• Lessons are engaging and relevant to today’s society
• Key vocabulary is identified, displayed within lessons and explained
• Enrichment activities are planned

Impact

• The curriculum is well planned with a clear progression from Reception to Year 6, and beyond
• The majority of children in each year group are making good or better progress
• Assessment is used to measure the impact of our computing curriculum

Computing in Early Years

Our Computing curriculum starts in Early Years where our children are supported to observe, notice and interact with technology. We support the development of curiosity and encourage our children to question What is it? What happens if..? and Is it safe?

Our youngest children engage in activities that involve computational thinking such as; tinkering, making, persevering, grouping and naming, sorting, ordering and sequencing. Our Children become confident in giving and receiving instructions, which is a precursor to coding and programming. Many ‘computing unplugged’ activities are provided to support children to follow algorithms and the skill of debugging when an algorithm has gone wrong, such as independently following a recipe.