Telford Infant School

Teaching & Learning

Curriculum

Extended School

General learning resources

Ms Louise Roberts

Computing Subject Leader

Why do we teach Computing?

At TIS our computing curriculum aims to provide children with the skills to live in an ever increasing digital world. Through the use of a range of hardware and software children are given the opportunity to apply their curiosity of the digital world and use their skills to create programs, systems and content. Computing skills are woven through all subject areas and in an integral part of all learning. Children are taught what it means and how to participate effectively and safely in the digital world, with the skills to equip them in their next stage of education. This is achieved through direct teaching of skills and the opportunity to apply these across the curriculum allowing children to build on their knowledge and skills as they progress through the school.

How do we teach Computing?

We provide the children with a range of experiences using hardware (ipads, cboards, beebots) and software (purple mash, Education city, clicker, scractch junior etc). Many computing lessons link to other parts of the curriculum such as science and maths. Some lessons are to teach specific computing skills such as programming and debugging. A very important part of our Computing teaching is online safety. This is taught every half term to every child across the school and reinforces the messages of ;

self image and identity - how people may be different online to the real world
online relationships - how to communicate safely and respectfully online
online reputation - what I should say and do online
online bullying - how to seek help with online bullying and recognise what this is
managing online information - using search engines safely
health, wellbeing and lifestyle - rules for using technology
privacy and security - personal information sharing and passwords
copyright and ownership - who content on the internet belongs to

How your child will make progress in Computing during their time at Telford Infant School.

We have a very clear progression map in place which enables the children to build on the skills they have as they move through the year groups.

In reception Computing is not a specific curriculum subject but is embedded in the provision. For example, the children use the classroom Cboard to create art, write simple programmes and research informationwith help from an adult.

In Year 1 and 2 the children have access to class sets of ipads which have a number of educational apps on them. They are given the responsibility and teaching to access these apps independently and navigate their way around them. For example, year 2 use Scratch Junior to create, run and debug a simple programme.

NATIONAL CURRICULUM

Purpose of study

A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. The core of computing is 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. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

Aims

The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils

can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation  can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Subject Content

Pupils should be taught to:

understand what algorithms are; how they are implemented as programs on digital devices; and that programs execute by following precise and unambiguous instructions
create and debug simple programs
use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programs
use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content
recognise common uses of information technology beyond school
use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.