At St Michael’s C of E Primary Academy, the planning and teaching of computing is an essential part of the curriculum; a subject that not only stands alone but is woven through and should be an integral part of all learning. Computing, in general, is a significant part of everyone’s daily life and children should be able to discerningly make use of the latest technologies to support them in all aspects of their lives. Computing within our school aims, therefore, to provide a wealth of learning opportunities and transferrable skills explicitly within the computing lesson and across other curriculum subjects. Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this.
Our curriculum will:
• Enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information.
• Develop the skills necessary for children to be able to use information in a discriminating and effective way. Ensure that children know more, remember more and understand more in computing so that they leave primary school computer literate in programming, multimedia, technology in our lives and handling data.
• Develop pupil’s learning in the acquisition of knowledge of the world around them that ensures 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.
• Build a computing curriculum that prepares pupils to live safely and make healthy, positive choices in an increasingly digital British society where pupils can evaluate and apply information technology,
At St Michael’s C of E Primary Academy, the planning and teaching of computing is an essential part of the curriculum; a subject that not only stands alone but is woven through and should be an integral part of all learning. Computing, in general, is a significant part of everyone’s daily life and children should be able to discerningly make use of the latest technologies to support them in all aspects of their lives. Computing within our school aims, therefore, to provide a wealth of learning opportunities and transferrable skills explicitly within the computing lesson and across other curriculum subjects. Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this.
Our curriculum will:
• Enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information.
• Develop the skills necessary for children to be able to use information in a discriminating and effective way. Ensure that children know more, remember more and understand more in computing so that they leave primary school computer literate in programming, multimedia, technology in our lives and handling data.
• Develop pupil’s learning in the acquisition of knowledge of the world around them that ensures 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.
• Build a computing curriculum that prepares pupils to live safely and make healthy, positive choices in an increasingly digital British society where pupils can evaluate and apply information technology,
It is important in the Early Years to give children a broad, play based experience of computing in a range of contexts, including outdoor play. Children experience a wide range of technology throughout their play including: iPads, CD players, talk tins, and interactive whiteboards. They use these forms of technologies to access age appropriate software, to provide opportunities for mark making as well as supporting their imaginative play, often reenacting real life experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. Children thrive on the ability to incorporate technology into their learning and through careful planning of their continuous provision. Early Years practitioners are able to provide a number of devices for children to use competently and independently, to support child-led learning. In addition to this, technology is a fantastic tool to enable children to build confidence, control and improve language development through specific online programs. Recording devices can support children to develop their communication and language skills further as well as building simple IT skills. This is particularly useful with children who have English as an additional language or children who have communication challenges.