INTENT

Within an ever changing and technological world, Heatherside Junior School understands and values the importance of teaching Computing from a young age. We acknowledge that future generations will rely heavily on their computational confidence and digital skills in order to support their progress within their chosen career paths. Therefore, our aim is to give children a wide experience of using different digital devices for a range of purposes in order to develop their skills, which can then be transferred to Maths, Science and DT. We intend to develop digitally literate children who are able to use, express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology. Through our curriculum, we intend the children to be active and safe participants in the digital world.

IMPLEMENTATION

In order to achieve the outlined intentions, the Computing curriculum is continuously reviewed through monitoring and evaluation by the Subject Leader and Senior Leadership Team.  The computing curriculum is taught as three strands, which support each other and also the use of technology in other curriculum areas. These three strands are: digital literacy, online safety and programming.

Each class has access to CHQ (the computer suite) weekly. There are enough computers for all children to work independently. In addition to this, extra time can be spent by using the laptops or iPads which are signed out in advance on weekly timetables.

Each hour-long computing lesson will cover one of the three strands, and have a learning objective to be covered during that session. These will follow progression across a unit, which usually lasts for 4-6 weeks, and across the academic year.

Year group teachers plan their own Computing lessons, using the Long Term overview and progression of skills document (which is based upon the national Curriculum objectives) to determine the specific learning objectives for each unit. The progression of skills document, written by the subject lead, has been devised to ensure that all children have an opportunity to develop their skills throughout their time in KS2 and that they cover each of the three strands every year.

Digital literacy includes effective use of word processing software (usually Microsoft Word), presentation software (usually Microsoft Powerpoint) and spreadsheet software (usually Microsoft Excel). Proficiency is attained through using these programs in every year group. Programs available on the Internet, and apps on the school iPads are also used so that children have a wide range of experiences.

Coding is developed through different programming languages: Logo for Year 3 and 4, Scratch for Years 3-6, Flowol for Year 5 and 6. Children learn general programming skills such as using repeat and variables, and see how these are similar and different with different programming languages.

We use the ProjectEVOLVE toolkit to teach our online safety curriculum every half term. These objectives may be covered within the computing slot or as part of cross-curriculum units such as PSHE. At Heatherside we know that online technologies are constantly changing. Therefore, it is important that we support and help educate parents in keeping children safe online. To do this, we offer a range of useful resources such as newsletters, information meetings and useful websites.

IMPACT

The success of the curriculum itself will be assessed through pupil voice and end of topic tasks which are planned into each unit, or assessments on skills or knowledge. These may be taken from the Teach Computing resources.

In order to demonstrate that we have accomplished our aims, pupils at Heatherside Junior School should:

• Be logical thinkers, able to solve problems within computing and continue these skills into other curriculum areas.
• Be able to identify the source of problems and work with perseverance to ‘debug’ or resolve them themselves. 
• Have useable digital literacy skills such as typing, saving documents, retrieving documents and sorting folders, which they use in all subject areas that involve the use of computers.
• Be proficient, safe and responsible digital citizens of the future.
• Transition to secondary school with a keen interest in the continued learning of this subject for the next stage of education and future careers.