Computing at The Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Intent

At The Holy Family Catholic Primary School we believe that every child should have the right to a curriculum that champions excellence; supporting pupils in achieving to the very best of their abilities. We understand the immense value technology plays, not only in supporting the Computing and whole school curriculum but overall, in the day-to-day life of our school.

We believe that technology can provide: enhanced collaborative learning opportunities; better engagement of pupils; easier access to rich content; support conceptual understanding of new concepts and support for the needs of all of our pupils.

Curriculum aims for Computing

At The Holy Family Catholic Primary School we follow the National Curriculum Programmes of study for Computing. This is delivered using the 'Purple Mash' scheme of work. We aim to:

• Provide an exciting, rich, relevant and challenging Computing curriculum for all pupils.
• Enthuse and equip children with the capability to use technology throughout their lives.
• Give children access to a variety of high quality hardware, software and unplugged resources.
• Instil critical thinking, reflective learning and a ‘can do’ attitude for all our pupils, when engaging with technology.
• Teach pupils to understand the importance of governance and legislation regarding how information is used, stored, created, retrieved, shared and manipulated.
• Equip pupils with skills, strategies and knowledge that will enable them to reap the benefits of the online world, whilst being able to minimise risk to themselves or others.
• Use technology imaginatively and creatively to inspire and engage all pupils, as well as using it to be more efficient in the tasks associated with running an effective school.
• Provide technology solutions for forging better home and school links.
• Utilise computational thinking beyond the computing curriculum.

Early Years

We provide our pupils with a broad, play-based experience of computing in a range of contexts.

We believe the following:

• Early Years learning environments should feature ICT scenarios based on experience in the real world, such as in role play.
• Pupils gain confidence, control and language skills through opportunities to ‘paint’ on the interactive board/devices or control remotely operated toys.
• Outdoor exploration is an important aspect, supported by ICT toys such as metal detectors, and walkie-talkie sets.
• Recording devices can support children to develop their communication skills. This is especially useful for children who have English as an additional language.