Sandilands Community Primary School

Computing

Sandilands Primary School delivers the computing curriculum in line with the 2014 National Curriculum for Computing, our aim is to provide a high-quality computing education which equips children to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world.

The curriculum will teach children key knowledge about how computers and computer systems work, and how they are designed and programmed. Through teaching Computing, we equip children to participate in a world of rapidly-changing technology. We enable them to find, explore, analyse, exchange and present information.

By the time they leave, children will have gained key knowledge and skills in the 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) and digital literacy (evaluating digital content and using technology safely and respectfully). The objectives within each strand support the development of learning across the key stages, ensuring a solid grounding for future learning and beyond.

Teachers use the ‘Kapow' published scheme of work as a starting point for the planning of their computing lessons, which are often richly linked to engaging contexts in other subjects and topics. Knowledge and skills are mapped across each topic and year group to ensure systematic progression. The curriculum has been broken down into 6 key areas, with the core principles permeating through each area:

Algorithms
Programming & Development
Data & Data Representation
Hardware & Processing
Communications & Networks
Information Technology

Sandilands Primary has a suite of laptops and ipads which can be booked by teachers and used within the classroom. This ensures that all year groups have the opportunity to use a range of devices and programs for many purposes across the wider curriculum, as well as in discrete computing lessons. Employing cross-curricular links motivates pupils and supports them to make connections and remember the steps they have been taught.

The children will have experiences of all three strands of the curriculum in each year group, but the subject knowledge imparted becomes increasingly specific and in depth, with more complex skills being taught, thus ensuring that learning is built upon. For example, children in Key Stage 1 learn what algorithms are, which leads them to the design stage of programming in Key Stage 2, where they design, write and debug programs, explaining the thinking behind their algorithms.