Computing

Subject Leader: Miss Taunton

Curriculum Intent

At Meadlands, We want to excite and engage our pupils to be creative with technology in an ever changing and increasingly connected world. We want to furnish our pupils with the skills, knowledge and understanding that will make them responsible and digitally literate citizens and the next generator of programmers, bloggers and debuggers! 

Curriculum Implementation 

At Meadlands, pupils have weekly computing lessons and access the curriculum through Chrome Books. During these sessions, pupils are taught the  National Curriculum, which is split into three strands:  information technology, digital literacy and computer science.

• Information technology is about the use of computers for functional purposes, such as collecting and presenting information, or using search technology. During this strand all pupils will share a piece of work on the Meadlands’ blog page. 

• Digital literacy is about the safe and responsible use of a range of software and internet based programs. This includes recognising its advantages for collaboration or communication and enabling pupils to use them in a creative manner. 

• Computer science helps pupils of all ages to understand how digital systems work (including computing and networks). It gives all pupils the opportunity to learn basic computer programming, using JIT turtle in Years 1 and 2, right up to creating on-screen computer games and programmes by Year 6, using the programming software Scratch. In this strand pupils also learn about how to spot mistakes through debugging work. 

Threaded throughout these strands is the regular teaching of e-safety to ensure that pupils feel confident when using electronic devices and the internet, and to know what to do if they come across something either inappropriate or uncomfortable. At the start of the year, pupils and parents are expected to sign our Acceptable Use policy, which details how we expect our pupils to behave on the Chrome Books and internet. This needs to be signed before pupils are given access. 

As we use Chrome Books, all of our work is based in the Cloud, which offers a unique opportunity for pupils to access their work within school, and at home – often receiving real-time feedback as they complete a task.  Additionally, in order to show what digital literacy pupils we have, we use our school blog, where children can show off the brilliant work they produce. This is also used as a teaching opportunity around being a respectful and responsible digital citizen when providing feedback on blog posts.

Below you can download Tips on Staying Safe on the Internet.