Computing
Intent
Computing is a foundation curriculum area at St Francis Primary school.
At St Francis, we want children to love Computing.
The curriculum has been designed so that children understand the relevance of Computing and are able to make connections with the real world.
It aims to make children digitally literate and competent users of different technology and software at a level suitable for the future workplace. From the very beginning of their learning journey, children are introduced to the core of the curriculum, computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use, through programming. Children learn that to be able to write code, is to use the same principles of problem solving – abstraction, logic, algorithms and data – that are found in Mathematics, Science, D&T and other curriculum areas.
Through the teaching of online safety, the Computing curriculum ensures that children can understand how to connect with others within the law and with moral and ethical integrity.
The children are not only equipped with the minimum statutory requirements of the National Curriculum, they are also taught to become capable members of the digital community in an era where technology increasingly dominates everyday life. Wherever we can, links are made with “real-life” professions and contexts which rely on ICT to make Computing real, relevant and purposeful.
We achieve this by providing a rich, diverse curriculum, underpinned by our school’s core values of Respect, Friendship, Honesty, Service, Kindness, Faithfulness, Resilience and Thankfulness, enabling every member of the school community to come together in truth and faith as we learn and grow as God’s family.
Implementation
We teach computing weekly using the Knowsley Computing scheme and have access to many devices across school to support in this teaching. We have an ICT suite with computers and 30 ipads which can be used by classes alongside laptops. We follow a long term computing plan which was created by our teachers to meet the needs of our children. We also cover our Computing through cross curricular links, particularly PSHE (eg online safety). Our school works hard to bring computing into other subject areas.
As a school, one of our priorities is reading. Computing can be useful when developing early reading as recognition and decomposition are used to apply phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words. This supports the recognition of alternative sounds for graphemes. In lower KS2 things such as Algorithms are used to apply knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes. In upper KS2 when Sound recording as part of multimedia will support pupils to read with appropriate intonation. In computing we try to make links to reading wherever possible as part of our whole school priority.
National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Computing
Impact
Pupil voice
Pupil Voice "We learn to keep our information safe" "I love that we can make pictures and books on the ipads" "I can now log in and out on my own"
Keeping Your Child Safe Online Links
Useful Links
