Computing

Intent:

In line with our whole school vision, our aim for the computing curriculum is to promote and develop each child’s communication skills. The use of information and communication technology has become an essential part of the way we all work, communicate, collaborate and entertain ourselves. Therefore, it is our aim at Bulford St Leonard’s to equip our children with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive and participate in a world of rapidly-changing technology.

We enable them to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information. We also help them develop the necessary skills to evaluate and assess the reliability of information in an effective way. This is a major part of enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners who understand the importance of staying safe when using technology.

We aim for all pupils to:

• to develop ICT capability in finding, selecting and using information;
• to use ICT for effective and appropriate communication;
• to apply their ICT skills and knowledge to their learning in other areas;
• to understand and apply the key principles of computer science   including logic, algorithms and communication;
• to use ICT and technology creatively;
• to analyse problems using ‘computational thinking’ and be able to write programs that solve problems;
• explore their attitudes towards ICT and its value to them and society in general.
• learn about issues of security and personal safety, confidentiality and accuracy.

Understanding the real life applications of the technology used within our Computing curriculum, will support children to visualise their role and future contributions to society, supporting our whole school vision.

Implementation:

At BSL, our Computing curriculum is planned so that key skills and knowledge build on from previous learning and can be recapped to better form secure connections across the curriculum. Kapow Computing is used to support planning and delivery.

We recognise that all classes have children with a wide range of ICT abilities and experiences with technology. This is especially true when some children have varying amounts of access to ICT equipment at home. Therefore, we provide the necessary scaffolding and support within school to allow each individual to access and succeed within the curriculum.  

• Children will revisit and apply skills in different contexts and in different year groups to really secure their journey.
• Children will have the chance to build on their knowledge by using different applications and applying this to produce a different outcome.
• Real life tasks which are open ended tasks are set to allow the children to apply their problem solving and computational thinking to all areas of the computing curriculum.

Our curriculum has been organised into the following domains, which incorporate the key topics from the National Curriculum (Digital Literacy, Information Technology and Computer Science):

• Computational Thinking: Using problem solving, logical thinking and noticing patterns.
• Productivity: Using software to produce and present information.
• Programming: creating instructions that tell a computer how to perform a task.
• Creativity: using technology to produce a creative outcome.  
• Computer Networks: Understanding the importance of networks and using the internet as a network.
• Communication and Collaboration: using technology to communicate a message and to work as a team.

Work on E-safety is interwoven throughout each domain and is always revisited at the start of the term. Key aspects of E-safety are applied to the new learning that is going to be taught.

Impact:

By the end of KS2, we aim for all children to be competent and knowledgeable about the positive impacts of technology for them and their community as well understanding the importance of ensuring that their usage and communication is conducted safely and in a positive manner.

Children will have developed key life skills and established vital problem solving strategies which will help them to prepare for an ever-changing technological world and allow them to contribute positively to the global community. Also, by igniting passions for computing the aim is to provide them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to make a significant difference to others and the world as a whole.

Click here to see our Online Safety Curriculum Overview

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