Computing Subject Lead - Beth Phillips bethphillips@boringdon.plymouth.sch.uk

Boringdon Primary School Computing Statement

All pupils at Boringdon Primary School have the right to have rich, deep learning experiences that balance all aspects of computing. With technology playing such a significant role in society today, we believe that ‘Computational thinking’ is a skill that children must be taught if they are to be able to participate effectively and safely in this digital world. A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use 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. At Boringdon Primary School, pupils are introduced to a wide range of technology, including desktops, iPads and interactive whiteboards, allowing them to continually practice and improve the skills they learn. This ensures they become digitally literate so that they are able to express themselves and develop their ideas through information and computer technology– at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

Intent: We aim to prepare our children for a rapidly changing world through the use of technology at Boringdon. Our computing curriculum is designed to enable them to use computational thinking and creativity to further understand our world. We aim to provide all pupils with computational life skills, such as emailing, researching and using Microsoft Office.

Our curriculum has links with mathematics, science, and design and technology. At the core of our computing curriculum 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, we intend for our children to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content.

We teach a curriculum that enables children to become effective users of technology who can:

•  Understand and apply the essential principles and concepts of Computer Science, including logic, algorithms and data representation;
• Analyse problems in computational term, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems;
• Evaluate and apply information technology analytically to solve problems;
• Communicate ideas well by utilising appliances and devices throughout all areas of the curriculum.

Our Computing curriculum is taught using the Kapow scheme of work and is comprised of three aspects: Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy. Computing skills are taught both discretely and cross-curricular, supporting other areas of learning across the school. In Reception and Key Stage 1, children are taught to use equipment and software confidently and purposefully, to communicate and handle information and to support their problem-solving, recording and expressive skills. In Key Stage 2, our children extend their use of computing that they use for communication, investigation and programming and work to understand how to communicate safely. Our planned curriculum for digital literacy that includes online safety is broad in covering a range of issues including understanding current issues such as ‘fake news’ and ‘body image’.