'We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of the world.'
David Warlick
What does computing look like at Uplands?
At Uplands Primary School we aim to provide all children with the opportunity to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. We aim to give pupils the opportunity to use a variety of devices to inform their computing knowledge ranging from: beebots, remote control cars, iPads, Chromebooks and laptops. When relevant, we make links in our computing lessons to our five Big Ideas that appear throughout all subjects in our curriculum: environment, similarities and differences, diversity, relationships and changes.
The curriculum is structured in a way that allows for children to make links between current and previous learning. Teachers make comparisons between computing units previously taught, developing children’s deep understanding of the digital world. All classes start their lessons with a retrieval practice activity focusing on the key knowledge and key vocabulary about their current unit or a previous unit with the aim to support the children to know more, remember more and understand more.
We recognise that in our ever-changing world, children knowing how to be safe online and their role and responsibilities as a digital citizen is increasingly important. We teach standalone e-safety units in every class and most units have an additional unit on how to keep ourselves safe online. There is also a strong presence of e-safety within our PSHE curriculum.
Enrichment Opportunities
We enrich our curriculum through relevant trips, visitors to the school and cross-curricular computing work. In the past, these have included:
Computing Outcomes
At Uplands, we communicate our learning through a variety of ways. These can include Scratch games, PowerPoint presentations, Beebots programmed to complete a challenge, presentation of data in various ways, music created using computer programs, animations, quizzes, posters, videos and presentations.
Class teachers formatively assess the children’s understanding of the computing concepts and key knowledge taught throughout their lessons. They also record an overall understanding of key areas at the end of each unit to enable the subject leader and future teachers to have a picture of each child’s learning journey across their time from Reception to Year 6.
Programming
Coding is a large part of the computing National Curriculum. We use Scratch Junior and Scratch across the school to learn more about these skills. We can use Scratch to create quizzes, games and animations. Click the links below to see some our creations.
Computing Curriculum
We have carefully mapped out our curriculum to ensure the skills and knowledge are built upon as the children move through the school. We have picked out the key small steps of knowledge that we want all children to retain at the end of each unit and that build towards the end of unit outcome. You can look at these in the document below.