Computing

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Computing

Computing at Granard

In today’s day and age, computing and the use of technology is at the heart of daily life, both at home and in school. Our children’s future is increasingly becoming more reliant on the use of technology. The skills they learn at Granard are life-long skills that they will be able to use and develop as they grow older and progress in their learning journeys and careers. Our curriculum is designed to be purposeful and practical to meet and reflect the ever-changing needs of our pupils. Not only will we teach them the core computing skills required but also develop their metacognitive skills which they will be able to apply and use across all subject areas. These skills will allow them to become confident users of technology and teach them how to use a range of digital resources in different areas of their life.

We will continue to encourage the children’s enthusiasm for learning through stimulating, practical and challenging tasks. All year groups will have the opportunity to use a range of computing resources such as Chromebooks, iPads and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets.

Our wide and varied curriculum ensures that not only are the pupils needs met but the four main aims of the National Curriculum are incorporated as well. These are:

Children can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science
Children can analyse problems using the appropriate computing terminology and have practical experience of how to solve these problems
Children can evaluate and apply information technology to solve problems
Children are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology

Digital Leaders

At Granard, we are proud to have started our Digital Leader journey to support the teaching of computing across the school. Our Digital Leaders represent pupils from Years 3 to 6 who will build on their passion for computing to help teach and support both teachers and peers with their computing. They will be hosting several events across the year showcasing computing at Granard and delivering workshops on online safety and using digital devices.

Our Digital Leaders will be hosting assemblies, parent workshops and showcasing our wonderful learning over the course of the year.

How we teach Computing

In order to continuously develop the children’s learning and build upon their prior knowledge, the curriculum covers three main strands: digital literacy, information, communication technology and computer science.

Key Stage 1

In KS1, children have the opportunity to create their own programs to instruct a robot and fix any bugs that may be affecting the program from working effectively. They begin to develop their digital literacy skills by creating presentations about themselves and sharing them with others. Pupils discuss how computing can be used outside of the classroom alongside learning how to use the internet responsibly.

Key Stage 2

In KS2, children create a range of programs to complete a variety of tasks with specific end goals. They then apply their critical thinking skills to debug these programs and discuss how they could be improved to be more effective. The children learn how to use search engines to find appropriate and relevant content to complete research tasks. In addition to this, they look at collaborating with others on projects and through digital communication such as emails to support their learning on creating a positive digital footprint.

Children have the opportunity to apply what they have learnt in their computing lessons in other areas of the curriculum. This may be researching and creating a slideshow about their topic, creating films in English or taking photographs in Science.

Online Safety

Young people have access to the internet at a much younger age nowadays and teaching them how to stay safe online is of the greatest importance. Children are exposed to the internet via internet browsers, games and applications (apps) both at home and in school.

In KS1, we follow the Think You Know scheme of work, ‘Hector’s World’, which helps the children understand the basic skills in staying safe online such as not sharing personal information.

In KS2, we follow Google’s ‘Be Internet Legends’ scheme of work (https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_uk/) which looks at how to build a good, responsible digital footprint. Online safety is continuously recapped and revised throughout the year, across all subjects.

Over the course of the year, we will be hosting events for parents on how to support their children when using the internet. These will be hosted by Miss Smith, our Digital Leaders and external speakers.

Resources

At Granard, we have a core bank of resources which include:

iPads
Chromebooks
Laptops
VR headsets
Spheros

We also provide the children with a range of other resources (hardware and software) which are used to support and develop the children’s understanding not only in computing but also in other areas of the curriculum.

Online Safety

For information on online safety please go to https://www.granardprimary.co.uk/useful-website-links-for-parents/