Computing overview

The computing curriculum is a blend of two schemes, Barefoot with the support of Maestro and the NCCE (National centre of computing education). They provide children with a range of skills ranging from being safe online, programming and digital art. Each topic is organised to show a clear progression of skills from the beginning of their journey in Year 3, all the way through to Year 6. For example, in programming, children in Year 3 start learning algorithms and how to apply them to code to create their own variables in Year 6.

Lower Key stage 2

In Lower Key stage 2, Year 3 children will start their year focusing on online safety and introducing them to Google classrooms. They will then evaluate digital content online which links heavily with PSHE and investigates if we should trust everything we see online? Year 3 children will take their skills further by coding using algorithms, debugging and sequences on scratch. In Year 4, Children will begin by revisiting online safety and continue with an investigation into cyber security. They will start to then investigate networks around the school and how it links together to create a system. Children will take their programming knowledge further by exploring the python programming language and experiment with making shapes and patterns.

Upper Key stage

In Year 5, children discover the history behind the creation of the internet and the network spreads across the world. Children will then take their learning further in programming by using condition statements and make their first steps in game design. By the end of the year they will have also used vector drawing to design their first piece of digital art. In Year 6, the children will improve their programming skills further and explore physical computing by using micro bits. Children will also experiment with web page design and create a website of their own using google sites. Finally, children will also use video editing skills to splice together different images and recordings to make their own video using adobe express. This 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.