Computing

Intent:
At Manorcroft, we want our children to grow up being familiar with technology and how it is integral to our daily lives. We aim to model and educate our pupils on how to use this technology positively, responsibly and safely. Children need to be creators, as well as consumers of digital content, and our broad curriculum encompassing computer science, information technology and digital literacy reflects this. The focus on a knowledge rich curriculum is balanced with the opportunity for children to apply their understanding creatively; this in turn will help them become skilful computer scientists. At Manorcroft, we want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding, and aim by the end of Year 6 for all children to leave with the independence, confidence and digital skills to be able to access and utilise new technologies in the world around them.

Implementation:
Computing skills are mainly taught through discrete weekly computing lessons and then practised and embedded throughout all areas of the curriculum.  These follow a topic-led approach and cover the skills of:

• Digital Literacy - Identifying technology around us, online safety, using search engines, emails, etc.
• Computer Science - coding and debugging
• Information Technology - using software to create content eg. spreadsheets, blogs, music, etc.

We use Purple Mash as our main teaching resource to ensure the objectives of the National Curriculum are covered, with clear progression throughout the school. All children have access to laptops and Chromebooks on a regular basis and every child has a Google Classroom account to use both in school and at home. Children are taught how to use these resources and their use is monitored by class teachers and the Subject Leader. We also use a number of other online subscriptions to support computing and cross-curricular learning (eg. My Maths). 

E-Safety
We teach e-safety as an explicit part of our computing curriculum. We discuss issues such as keeping personal information private, trusting people and sources online, treating others online as we would in real life, posting images online, and what to do if anything makes children feel uncomfortable. As appropriate, we invite people into school to talk to the children to reinforce our messaging, such as local PCSO officers or host workshops, for example led by the Breck Foundation. Staff have regular CPD around e-safety and key messages are sent out to parents and carers - a separate page of resources is also available to parents on the school website.

Impact:
Teachers and children enjoy and value the computing curriculum at Manorcroft. Learners discuss, reflect and understand the impact the computing curriculum has on their learning, development and well-being in and out of school. Finding the right balance with technology is key to an effective education and a healthy life-style. We feel the way we implement the computing curriculum helps children realise the need for this, providing a foundation to build on in their next stage of education and beyond. Teaching and learning is evaluated by learning walks, drop-ins, pupil discussions and work scrutinies.