At Bledington, we aim to inspire and equip every child to develop the skills to live, work, keep safe and thrive in the increasingly digital world we all inhabit. 

Intent

Our children are growing up in an ever increasingly digital world. Computing at Bledington School intends to develop ‘thinkers of the future’ through a modern, ambitious and relevant education in computing. We want to equip pupils to use computational thinking and creativity that will enable them to become active participants in the digital world they are growing into. It is important to us that the children understand how to use the ever-changing technology to express themselves, educate themselves and enjoy themselves, giving them the tools for learning and as a means to drive their generation forward into the future.

Whilst ensuring they understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with online experiences, we want children to develop as respectful, responsible and confident users of technology, aware of measures that can be taken to keep themselves and others safe online. These aims, in line with our PSHCE curriculum, ensure they are aware of the benefits and possible concerns of experiences online, in an age appropriate way. We aim to provide a computing curriculum that is designed to balance acquiring a broad and deep knowledge alongside opportunities to apply skills in various digital contexts. Beyond teaching computing discreetly, we will give pupils the opportunity to apply and develop what they have learnt across wider learning in the curriculum.

Implementation

Our scheme of work follows the National Curriculum, which we have used to generate our progression grid. The curriculum aims to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to thrive in the digital world of today and the future. Our curriculum is split into four stands: coding, connecting, communicating and creating.

· Coding - encompasses all aspects of robotic instructions, from working with Beebots in the Infants to debugging their own algorithms in Year 6.

· Connecting (including Internet Safety) - covers all aspects of how the internet allows greater world wide communications and how to use this in a safe way.

· Communicating - discusses how we can use technology beyond the boundaries of school to enquire, learn and communicate.

· Creating - looks at creating digital art, word processing, spread sheets and presentations.

In addition to these skills, Bledington Primary subscribes to Discovery Education, providing all children with access to Block Coding, Python and HTML resources. Block coding lessons provide a graphical approach to coding where pupils drag and drop events, objects and actions to make things happen in a program, progressing to building their own games, whilst Python and HTML develop these skills into more formal coding. Bledington use Seesaw as an online learning platform, allowing all children to communicate with school whilst at home, engage with more digital literacy skills, play games and explore ways of creating new files.

E-Safety and Digital Citizenship

A key part of implementing our computing curriculum is to ensure that safety of our pupils is paramount. We take online safety very seriously and we aim to give children the necessary skills to keep themselves safe online. Children have a right to enjoy childhood online, to access

safe online spaces and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring them, appropriate to their age and stage. Children at Bledington cover these skills within specific computing lessons, during PSHCE Rainbow sessions and within E-safety week celebrated annually as a whole school in the Spring term.

To help with our implementation of the computing curriculum we have a variety of hardware available to all teachers, including:

· A class set of laptops and headphones

· A class set of tablets

· 8 Ipads

· Fixed laptops for Intervention groups

Each classroom is also fitted with Interactive Whiteboards to enhance learning and bring digital literacy into daily teaching.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum can be seen in pupils developing skills across the years, their confidence to use technology in a range of ways and their ability to speak confidently about keeping themselves and others safe. The impact of our teaching can be seen in the wider community, where families at our school use technology responsibly, in line with the school’s acceptable use policies, many parents engage with the school’s social media channels to keep up-to-date with developments that are happening in school and the schools digital learning platform is a hive of activity daily. We measure the impact of our curriculum through regular skills assessments, discussions and conversations with pupils, as well as through looking at the wide range of work produced available on our collaborative Computing board.

Finding the right balance with technology is key to an effective education and a healthy lifestyle. We feel the way we implement computing helps children realise the need for the right balance and one they can continue to build on in their next stage of education and beyond.