St. Mary's C.E. Primary School, Washington

Intent

At St Mary’s CE Primary School, Washington, we aim that all children have a competent and clear understanding of all aspects of the computing curriculum. The children will know what aspect of the computing curriculum they are being taught and how it will help them as they develop their computing skills. It is essential that every child knows how to keep safe on the internet and is respectful of other users. They can recognise that the internet can be a dangerous tool and how to use it appropriately. We intend that all children will have a good understanding of word processing that will put them in the best possible situation as they progress into secondary school. They will have a competent understanding of typing skills, saving and retrieving as well as publishing work for different criteria.  We intend that every child from our school will have a firm knowledge of how to use a computer in everyday life that will help them to become well rounded individuals as they grow up in the ever-changing modern world. This will be achieved through discreet computing lessons where they are taught a depth of knowledge and skills and these are then applied through meaningful links in other subjects.  We live in a technological world and our children need the skills to be digitally literate and to able to join the rest of the world on its digital platform.  They will be equipped, not only with the skills and knowledge to use technology effectively and for their own benefit, but more importantly – safely.

Implementation

St Mary’s CE Primary School uses a combination of resources to support our whole-school scheme of work for EYFS to Year 6 pupils.  Our bespoke curriculum fully meets the objectives of the National Curriculum for Computing and allows for clear progression, including how to stay safe.  Teachers are able to make links to other curriculum areas by mapping the planned units for each cycle where there are relevant and purposeful links to other areas of the St Mary’s CE Primary School Curriculum.  We also use DB Primary, Google Classroom, Microsoft Office and a number of learning apps to support learning at home and to enhance pupil engagement in learning to read, spell and recall multiplication facts.  IT and computing is also used to support learning in other subjects with opportunities to enrich and deepen learning using cross-curricular approaches across the Curriculum.

Impact

Our Computing curriculum ensures that children leave St Mary’s CE Primary School, Washington:

• Knowledgeable, confident and creative users of a range of digital technologies.

• Equipped with the knowledge and skills to access the next stage of their learning, with a clear understanding of how quickly this knowledge will evolve.

• Able to apply their knowledge and skills in utilising information technologies to communicate their ideas to a range of audiences.

• Responsible digital users, able to explain how our SMART rules enable them to stay safe online. This is evidenced through our monitoring of the online spaces and platforms provided by the school e.g. DB Primary, Google Classroom.

• Fully aware of the risks of using digital technologies and measure they can take to mitigate against these risks.

Training, planning and teaching our Computing curriculum should ensure:

Knowledgeable and skilful teachers able to formatively assess pupils’ learning through analysis of a range of learning tasks.  Each unit has planned outcomes that assesses pupils’ new learning against our Progression Map objectives.