WELCOME TO OUR COMPUTING & ICT PAGE!
INTENT – WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
Our Schools Computing & ICT Vision:
“We empower our children to learn, create and work, using the concepts and technology of ICT. We encourage all children to be competent digital experts with an understanding of the importance of being safe online for themselves and others.”
In line with our whole school Computing & ICT vision, we understand the need of a high-quality computing education that equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world allowing children to grow in heart, mind and spirit. Computing is a significant part of everyone’s daily life, and we at Freezywater St. George’s believe that children should be at the forefront of new technology.
We also recognise the importance of responding to new developments in technology and aim to equip pupils with the confidence and capability to use ICT and computing throughout their lives.
The computing curriculum is designed to progressively develop pupils’ skills in computing. This takes place through combining both cross-curricular and discretely taught lessons.
Through their journey in Freezywater St. George’s, pupils will experience three main areas of the computing curriculum:
Computer Science
(programming and understanding how digital systems work).
Information Technology
(using computer systems to store, retrieve and send information).
Digital literacy
(evaluating digital content and using technology safely and respectfully).
As technology develops, so does the need for a better understanding of how to use it in a responsible manner. The education of pupils in E-Safety is therefore essential, to ensure children are equipped with the skills to recognise risks online, to be critically aware of the materials and content they access online, along with guidance on how to accurately validate information accessed via the internet.
Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practise?
We implement our approach through high quality teaching, with challenging work for all individuals. Pupils participate in computing lesson using the NCCE scheme 'Teach Computing'. This programme ensures pupils can develop depth in their knowledge and skills. Pupils use netbooks and iPads to access the computing curriculum.
Pupils also participate in regular Computing and E-Safety lessons/events in order to achieve the intent of the Computing and E-Safety curriculum. In addition to stand alone lessons, these elements are regularly incorporated into other subjects, given the cross-curricular nature of computing and the opportunities to expand and develop lessons that its inclusion provides.
Our approach focuses on integration: this means we integrate each unit of study as closely as possible with our Learning Challenge questions, topics and other subjects during each half term. This means that students not only engage more but it also makes the unit more relevant to the child.
Additional computing opportunities are identified in other curriculum areas, such as research tasks (English, RE, history and Geography), data handling (Maths, Science and History), photography (English, RE, Science and Learning Challenge), filming (English, RE, Science and Learning Challenge), etc. These links support pupils in making connections and remembering the steps they have been taught in their discrete computing lessons.
Lessons build on what the pupils already know and the subject knowledge that is imparted becomes increasingly specific and in depth, with more complex skills being taught.
.jpg?width=1920&height=1080&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "switchedoncomputinggraphic1(1)")
Impact – What is the impact of our Computing & ICT curriculum?
The impact of Computing and E-Safety can be determined using teacher formative assessment observations, electronic evidence and teacher reflections.
Our children build and use their knowledge and skills in a range of curriculum areas through out their learning journey. Using learnt skills to express themselves and be creative in using digital media have been developed. Confidence in this subject will enable our children to become independent and competent in key life skills such as problem-solving, logical thinking and evaluation.
At Freezywater St. George’s we aim to support children to become digitally literate and equipped to use technology effectively and safely. Children will understand the consequences of using the internet and also be knowledgeable on how to keep themselves safe online.
Overviews of Units of Study
Computing Units Overview
There is only one overview of all units from the Computing curriculum.
Also linked below is the EYFS curriculum overview.
DB Primary VLE
We use the Virtual Learning Envronment 'DB Primary' in our school and in particular with ICT and Computing. It provides a secure and safe online space where students can email, blog (and much more) and access many resources both in school and at home. We aim to engage the parents with the childrens learning at home through the use of our VLE.