Computing

Intent

We want our school community to SHINE as digital learners, creators and collaborators.

We believe that the integration of technology into our curriculum will allow every child to achieve their personal best and access a world of opportunities. We aim to prepare children to be "active participants in a digital world" and use "computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world". Our children will undertake jobs that have not yet been created, using technology which has yet to be invented. They need, therefore, to develop transferable skills and the ability to adapt and work with different technologies.

Implementation

To meet these aims, we have developed a curriculum, based upon the Kapow Scheme of Work, that incorporates the use of both iPads and Windows-based devices, to equip children as fully as possible for our increasingly digital word. This approach is supplemented by the use of IT peripherals such as Micro:Bits, Blue Bots and robotic technology.

By following our computing curriculum, children will develop skills in computer science, information technology and digital literacy, and will learn to be "Ready, Respectful and Safe" online, as well as in the real world.

Outside formal computing lessons, teachers are encouraged to use IT across the curriculum and to incorporate the use of technology in all areas of the curriculum, recording this work digitally when appropriate, using Seesaw, our online learning journal.

During their time at Cookham Rise, children can expect to:

- Create programmes using Beebots, Logo, Scratch and Python

- Use a range of Microsoft software, including Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint

- Manipulate images using programmes such as Sketches School, Paint, and SketchUp

- Create and edit podcasts and music, using apps such as GarageBand and Audacity

- Create films and animations using iMovie, Clips, StopMotion and similar packages

- Search the Internet, developing their critical awareness and evaluating the reliability of digital content.

You can link to curriculum statements, by year group, below.

Underpinning our curriculum is the promotion of the safe and sensible use of technology. We hold a whole-school annual Internet Safety Day to supplement in-class teaching and ask children to sign an Acceptable Use of Technology agreement. More information about these can be found below.

As well as a fully equipped IT suite, which was updated in summer 2022, we have iPads and laptops available to use in each classroom. Year 5 and 6 children benefit from access to an individual iPad. Children and staff record evidence of work on Seesaw, our electronic learning journal and older children also use Teams to access and share their work.

More details of how to see your child's work on Seesaw are available from your child's class teacher. Children with a particular interest in IT may be given the opportunity to become a "digital leader," supporting their peers and staff in using technology.

Impact

Children leave Cookham Rise able to work confidently with a range of technology, creating programs using Scratch and other Blockley languages, as well as animations, movies and podcasts. They are able to use Microsoft software, including Teams, ensuring they are prepared for blended learning at secondary school and beyond.

The impact of our Computing and digital learning curriculum resulted in every pupil within our school community accessing live lessons during lockdown, submitting work and receiving feedback from the teaching team via Seesaw and Teams.

We are very grateful to the Spoore, Merry and Rixman Foundation and the School PTA for their financial support in providing the school and its pupils with access to technology.