In our school, our computing curriculum enables children to become safe, independent and creative users of technology so that they are prepared for the future in a digital world.

The National Curriculum states:

"A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and 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. The core of computing 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, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

Aims

The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology."
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Every child has access to an online software programme called 'Purple Mash'. The children use this in school to create animation, stories, posters, leaflets, 3D nets for objects, environments and much more! Children's log in details have been sent home for Key Stage One. The link to Purple Mash is on our home page.

Year 1

In the first half of the Autumn term, children in Year 1 have been learning the basic skills needed to operate a computer efficiently. Key vocabulary has been introduced and the children have applied their skills to create pictures using paint software.

Year 2

In the Autumn term, children in Year 2 have been recapping the digital literacy skills they learnt in Year 1. They were quickly able to progress onto developing more advanced paint skills including 'filling' objects and switching between paint effects. They have also begun developing their word processing skills. To make cross-curricular links, the children applied all of these skills to create a digital version of the stories that they wrote in English using iPads.

Computing Club

Throughout the year, children will take part in computing club. In previous years, the children in Year 1 created their own animation films! They used the text 'Lost and Found,' which the children read in literacy lessons as their inspiration. Take a look at some of their films!