Computing

 

Curriculum intent

At Grange Junior School we believe that Digital Learning is vital for children to be able to access the modern world safely. Children need to be equipped with a wide range of skills, to enable them to be successful using technology that may not even be invented yet.  It is essential that children are able to monitor their own digital wellbeing to ensure that they create positive digital habits that are right for them as individuals, therefore, must also be trained in how to keep themselves and others safe online.

“Digital technology is vital because we can use it to learn what is happening in the world, as soon as it happens.”

Implementation of the curriculum

Computing is taught weekly in a dedicated computer slot so that it is possible, where appropriate, for all children to have access to their own laptop or iPad to work on. Throughout the school year, the children have the opportunity to develop their skills in a range of computing areas, which have been spread out to allow for spaced study. This includes: Computer Science units (Scratch), Control and Robotic units (Crumble), Digital Literacy units (predominantly Microsoft office based), Green Screen or Stop Motion Animation units and Digital Citizenship units.  Additionally web research skills may be taught as part of other subjects.

The computing curriculum has been resourced to allow the children to learn through a range of screen and non-screen based experiences. For example, ‘unplugged’ lessons are used to teach children the knowledge of how a computer network works whilst control hardware (Crumble) has been bought to provide the children with the chance to programme and see what their algorithms produce in the real world.  Teachers delivering the curriculum will use medium term plans to inform their computing lesson preparation using a range of approaches and delivery methods.

Our curriculum recognises that, as well as gaining practical skills, children need to learn how to be responsible and principled digital users. Children are taught the vocabulary needed to discuss and explain their computational thinking, and technical language is consistently modelled by teaching staff.

Impact of our curriculum

• Children are covering all different areas of the computing curriculum and developing their knowledge of each area.
• As the children are going through the school their skills are developing and they are becoming digitally literate and able to select and use technology successfully.
• Children know the value of technology in an ever changing world.

Support for parents to support your child 

We would like to remind parents that you don’t need to be experts in curriculum subjects—encouraging curiosity and learning alongside your child is what matters most. Encourage your child to ask questions and then help them find answers.

7 top tips to help your child with  computing

Here are some fun and interesting things you can do together at home and they will improve your child’s understanding and appreciation of computing!

Keep it real. Find links to computing in everyday life. Taking photographs, crossing roads at traffic lights, paying for things in shops or playing games on devices all rely on computers. Bring programming into routines – act out instructions for everyday things like brushing teeth or making breakfast in a robotic voice. Try doing it the wrong way round and see what happens. They can debug their original instructions to make the process run smoothly.

Be inspired. Think about all the amazing things that wouldn’t be possible without computing. For example, robotic missions to other planets – like the rover set to explore Mars, and earth observation satellites.

Go exploring. Download an app or spotter sheets onto your phone and go on a nature walk. See how many different plants or invertebrates you can identify using the app. Take photographs of what you find and try and identify it. Find out about your plants or animals and create a fact file about it on a computer, adding an image and text boxes for information. Think about who will be reading your fact file and make it engaging and informative.

Get creative. Children of all ages can enjoy coding in their favourite games online, or find new ones that engage them. Scratch Junior is something children will be familiar with from school, but there are many other sites that also provide children with a way to be creative with code. Get coding in Minecraft!

Challenge yourself. Get involved in, or set yourself a computing-themed challenge or look out for competitions running locally, nationally or even internationally. Technology may be involved in solving lots of problems that children see in their everyday lives. Identify issues or problems in your local area or everyday lives, and think about how they could solve these using technology.

Grow together. Primary children can learn with parents through Barefoot Computing (click link below).

Take a look at some of the resources on offer on educational websites.

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