“Our curriculum promotes social mobility;

we give our children the roots to grow and the wings to fly.”

Computing at St George's

Intent 

Through our Computing curriculum at St George’s, we aim to give our pupils the life skills that will enable them to embrace and utilise new technology in a socially responsible and safe way. We want our pupils to be able to live safely online in the 21st century and we want them to learn the skills necessary to participate in a modern technological workplace. This fits in with our school drivers, in particular Reach for the Stars, which aims to raise aspirations for children’s futures.

At St George’s, iPads and laptops are used to support learning across the entire curriculum and help to ensure that our curriculum is accessible to every child. Not only do we want our learners to be digitally literate and able to use many different aspects of modern technology, such as word processing and photo editing, but through our Coding lessons we want them to develop coding skills and in turn creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills that will equip them for the rest of their lives.

For many of our children, playing online is an integral part of their lives. It is of the utmost importance that our Computing curriculum teaches children how to stay safe while experiencing online games, apps and websites. While Online Safety Day is held each year at St George’s, we also ensure that teachers plan and deliver online safety lessons throughout the school year. In addition to lessons, teachers ensure children are exposed to online safety rules through a range of story books focussed on staying safe online.

At St George’s, we want our pupils to understand themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider global community and how to behave as responsible digital citizens.

Implementation 

At St George’s, teachers follow the Discovery Education scheme for Coding. Staff have a number of resources in this scheme to help teach the objectives. Staff are confident in delivering the Discovery Education Coding lessons and children enjoy participating in these lessons. To enthuse our children even further, the Y3 and Y4 children have participated in a Junior Stem coding workshop. An experienced practitioner delivered the workshop, and the children were able to use and develop their computing skills using Lego and a Coding app.

Children are given opportunities to apply their computing skills across the wider curriculum.  Children are able to apply these skills using iPads and laptops. All children at St George’s are provided with log ins and passwords for a range of learning apps to support other areas of the curriculum. This includes Times Table Rockstars, EdShed and Rising Stars.

We integrate reading into our Computing lessons whenever and wherever we can. Some of our 15 Great Britons have a strong link to Computing; Ada Lovelace (the world's first computer programmer) and Sir Tim Berners-Lee (creator of the World Wide Web) have been the topic of assemblies and we have multiple copies of non-fiction texts about them in our Leopard's Library.

To ensure that our children are safe online at home and at school, staff work effectively to educate our parents and school community about online safety. Our school Facebook page and newsletter are often used to inform parents about any new, popular apps or websites that children are using. Previously, we have shared information about the age-restrictions for popular sites or apps. We have also offered advice on how their child’s usage can be monitored on particular websites or apps.

Impact 

As children progress through St George’s, they will become digitally literate and able to join the rest of the world on its digital platform. Children will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to use technology effectively and for their own benefit. Most significantly, our children will be able to do this safely, respectfully and responsibly: understanding the responsibilities and consequences of the internet and how to keep themselves safe online.

Class teachers assess the children’s learning at the end of each term. Teachers identify which children are on track, working below or exceeding the Computing objectives. The subject leader then looks for ways to support key classes and children. Pupil interviews are used by the subject leader to gain an insight from the children and the understanding they have gained from their Computing lessons.