Computing 💻 

Computing Strands

The subject teaches knowledge, skills and understanding across three different areas:

• in information technology, pupils are taught how to use programs and computer systems to create and develop their ideas;

• in digital literacy, pupils are taught how to use online technologies safely, effectively and responsibly;

• in computer science (theory and programming), pupils are taught about the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming.

Year Group Progression

At Parkfield, pupils are predominantly taught Computing: knowledge, skills and understanding through a weekly, discrete, whole-class one-hour Computing lesson, as part of teacher's PPA cover (total ~39 hours each academic year). Wherever possible, we try to link these lessons into real-life contexts so that their content and skills are given a clear, meaningful purpose. 

Children are mainly taught using one of two class sets of iPads or in our Computing Suite which can seat half a class at a time.

Our expectations are set high for pupils in lessons so that they are all given the opportunity to achieve and succeed as best as they can. Click the links below or in the sidebar to view a list of all the Computing lessons that are taught at Parkfield, detailing their learning intentions, specific National Curriculum links and teaching resources. 

Knowledge Organisers

These show a summary of Computing knowledge progression across each of the four strands over the three primary phases - Y1/2, Y3/4 and Y5/6.

SMSC in Computing

Children are supported in developing their social, moral, spiritual and cultural understanding in Computing (to reduce social inequalities) by:

• being given individual access to a range of devices (iPads, desktop computers, laptops etc.);

• learning how to use a range of software applications to transfer into tasks for different audiences/purposes outside of school;

• finding out about the opportunities provided by the Internet for global communication and sharing of ideas (including the issues associated with the 'digital divide');

• learning the expected behaviours they should follow when online and how to respond safely to any concerning situations they may find themselves in;

• being taught about the uses of technology beyond school, including their positive/negative impacts (e.g. robots, simulations, drones, e-commerce etc.);

• understanding the etymology of key Computing vocabulary highlighted on the knowledge organiser documents (e.g. 'Internet', 'keyboard' and 'multimedia'), as well as generic terms that cross subjects (e.g. 'predict' and 'calculate')

• the Year 6 Technology Team pupils having the chance to talk with ICT providers at the BETT show in London and meet up with children from other local schools to take part in Computing-themed activity sessions.

British Values in Computing

In accordance with the Prevent Duty Guidance, pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws for governing and protecting us related to using the Internet for sharing information and communicating with others. This also includes them learning about the responsibilities that this places upon them and the consequences which happen when laws are broken.

Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely through our e-safety lessons. All members of the school community are regularly reminded of the need treat each other with respect.

Teaching Children Efficient Methods

Pupils are taught efficient and effective methods to complete routines in Computing wherever possible. Through regular repeated practice of these when using different software applications, they are able to demonstrate secure knowledge over a variety of applications. Examples include:

• Using keyboard shortcuts on the computer (e.g. for taking screenshots WIN+SHIFT+S or duplicating objects CTRL+D)

• Saving work at the end of each lesson into Showbie.

• Creating a central stylesheet when creating an information app that describes the appearance of every page to produce a consistent design.

• Using Shift for single capital letters instead of Caps Lock.

• Using =SUM() functions rather than individually adding multiple cells in a spreadsheet table.

• Writing two/three key words into a web search engine rather than a whole question.

• Naming variables and spreadsheet columns appropriately to aid programming/constructing formulae.

Opportunities to Apply Basic Skills

• READING Reading materials used when appropriate in lessons (inc. BBC Bitesize website), along with discussion/clarification of vocabulary when needed.

• WRITING Specific typing skills in Y1/2. Children are taught ways to make efficient use of ICT to help with their writing – spell checker, predictive text, copy/cut/paste/overtyping for editing, text-to-speech function etc. They are show the wide variety of software available for creating documents in – both for printing and containing multimedia for viewing on screens.

• SPEAKING & LISTENING

  • In programming lessons, children have the chance to discuss with other ways to debug programs with lots of bugs in, along with giving each other verbal feedback when they play/test each others’ games.

  • In e-safety lessons, children discuss the reasons for following rules, the possible consequences of not following them, along with talking about how this applied in videos of real-life scenarios.

  • Kagan co-operative learning structures are used regularly to encourage children to actively work with each other (e.g. quiz-quiz-trade, Find Someone Who).

• MATHS Children do lots of reasoning and problem-solving when programming, plus they learn how to store, organise and search data when learning about databases and spreadsheets in Y5/6.

Inclusion

• A range of approaches are used across classes to engage all pupils and make learning both exciting and memorable.

• Children have a prompt/instruction sheet to refer to when working to guide and support them through an activity.

• Success criteria are presented in each lesson in a scaffolded approach, with no 'ceiling' on attainment.

• WAGOLLs are shared with children to inspire them with ideas and make expectations visually clear.

• A range of questioning strategies are used (inc. Kagan co-operative learning structures) to encourage all to engage with learning.

• Groupings/pairings are carefully thought out to maximise children's ability to support each other whilst not getting distracted from their own work.

• Teaching Assistants are used to provide addition individual, personalised support to those on EHCPs.