Computing

Intent

At Weeth School, we want our children to be in control of technology rather than being controlled by it.  Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in their lives. Therefore, we want to model and educate our children on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our children to be creators, not consumers.

Our computing curriculum is made up of three distinct strands:

• Coding– The foundations of understanding computing in which pupils develop computational thinking and learn how digital systems work through programming and algorithms.
• Understanding and Using Technology- Pupils learn to use computer systems and networks to creatively and purposefully manipulate a range of digital content. Pupils become digitally literate through developing the basic functional skills needed to use technology confidently and effectively.
• Online Safety– Pupils learn how to understand digital information and interact with it safely and appropriately.

We want our children to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology (especially social media) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education. Building our knowledge in this subject will allow our children to effectively demonstrate their learning through creative use of technology.

We recognise that technology can allow children to share their learning in creative ways. We also understand the accessibility opportunities technology can provide for children. Our knowledge rich curriculum has to be balanced with the opportunity for children to apply their knowledge creatively which will in turn help our children become skilful computer scientists. We encourage staff to try and embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our children to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and hope by Upper Key Stage 2, our children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.

Our computing curriculum not only teaches skills, knowledge, understanding and online safety, but it also acknowledges and develops the 5 core skills at the heart of SEL (Social and Emotional Learning): self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making. Scenarios set at the beginning of each lesson, will spark conversations about how to effectively respond to a range of emotions and feelings.