Computing

“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.”

—Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Subject Leader: Mr S. Firth

Subject Governor: Mr E. Fairfield  

Intent Statement

At Pinders Primary School we believe technology is an integral and inescapable facet of modern life. We aim to equip our children with the skills they need to live safely in the increasingly digital world understanding that technology underpins every aspect of modern life – be that communicating with others, accessing government services or contributing to the workplace.  We want our children to actively create, manipulate and develop their ideas – harnessing technology to work for them rather than passively consuming digital content. We will work with our pupils to build their understanding of both the benefits and drawbacks of technology allowing them to critically consider the content they encounter online, the choices they make and how to use technology appropriately. We understand that technology is not something that should be shied away from and actively model using technology safely.

We believe that technology is a key driver for engagement and leads to increased outcomes for our children. We invest in high quality technology to support our children in all of their learning across the curriculum to give prominence to its importance and safe use. We use our status as a SMART Exemplary School and an LBQ school to promote the benefits of technology within school and to the wider area.

Aims in teaching Computing at Pinders Primary School:

We aim to:

• Prepare children to live in an increasingly digital world.
• Teach children to actively harness technology rather than passively using it.
• Encourage children to critically consider their own use of technology.

National Curriculum Programme 

How is Computing Taught?

Our broad and balanced computing curriculum is built around a clear sequence of progression in skills and knowledge. Children will embark on a seamless journey from EYFS to Year 6 which will develop them as independent and critical computer scientists. We have designed our curriculum sequence around a two year rolling cycle. We focus on computer science and algorithms in all years during the autumn term and revisit this with a specific focus on debugging within the summer term. During the spring term we look at data handling, multimedia and networks. Our computing curriculum is taught in discreet blocks throughout the year with clear cross curricular links as appropriate.

Understanding our school context, and the issues we see, we deliver our ESafety curriculum separately to highlight its prominence and to proactively tackle ESafety concerns. Our planned ESafety curriculum is delivered five times each year, we also teach additional lessons as required to respond to any emerging concerns.

How do we ensure progression of knowledge of skills?

At Pinders Primary School we have a comprehensive knowledge and skills progression document in place for the teaching of computing. This is used for planning, to ensure a sequenced and appropriate content for specific year groups, as well as a build up of knowledge and skills. Within these documents there are also opportunities for differentiation, in order to meet the needs of all learners. 

Becoming A Computer Scientist

When children are learning about a subject through a discrete teaching session, they are explicitly told that today they are going to be 'Computer Scientists'. They are then reminded of the key skills that they will learn, use and develop within that subject. 

In computing these are:

We are learning to:

• use technology safely
• solve problems by breaking them into smaller parts
• think critically and reach logical conclusions
• consider the audience or end user
• make efficient choices

Whole School Computing Overview

Reading in Computing

Books flow through the veins of our school. Wherever possible, we use books as stimuli for new topics in all of our subjects. We have a stimulus book for every ESafety lesson and most of our computing blocks. See our book links below:

Cultural Capital

Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a child can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

Significant people in Computing

When planning our curriculum we highlighted some key significant computer scientists for the children to learn about. These people were chosen for various reasons but are all known for their contributions to the field of computer scientists!

Policies

The following policies are the core policies within the computing and ESafety curriculum.

• ESafety Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Computing Policy
• Data Protection/ GDPR Policy
• Social Media Policy

You can access the most up-to-date versions by clicking the link to the policies area below.