Computing & E-Safety
Intent, Implementation and Impact
Intent
At Stanhope Primary, it is our intention that Computing supports pupils’ creativity, problem solving, analytical thinking and cross-curricular learning to engage pupils, ensuring they make progress and enrich their experiences in school. We teach a curriculum in line with the National Curriculum.
Our curriculum offers a range of opportunities for consolidation, challenge and variety. This allows children to apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science. Computer Science introduces children to how computers and networks work. It will also give all children the opportunity to learn basic computer programming. They develop analytical problem-solving skills and learn to evaluate and apply information technology. By providing the children with a wide range of devices to explore and experience, we are allowing them to continually practice and improve the skills they learn for functional purposes. It also enables them to become responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information technology. This ensures they become digitally literate so that they are able to express themselves, recognise its advantages for collaboration or communication and develop their ideas.
Foundation Stage
The EYFS framework no longer explicitly includes technology; however, it remains a vital tool for delivering a well-rounded education. By integrating computing into our Early Years education, we can equip our children with the skills they need to navigate the digital world confidently and safely.
Computing in the EYFS ensures that pupils enter Year 1 with a strong foundation, builds problem-solving abilities, encourages resilience and supports other areas of learning. By integrating computing into EYFS, pupils also begin to build their digital literacy and their understanding of e-safety.
1 – Strong Foundations – activities that familiarise pupils with technology they may use more formally in KS1. For example, computing in EYFS may look like taking photos with a tablet, tinkering with a Bee-bot, doodling on an iPad or including an old keyboard in the role-play area.
2 – Building Problem Solving Skills – pupils learn to break problems down into smaller pieces and focus on the important facts. They take big problems and turn them into smaller ones, which can be solved.
3 – Encouraging Resilience – computing tasks often require persistence to find a solution. There can be an element of trial and error, or tasks can need debugging. This process helps children develop their resilience as they learn to keep trying until they find a solution.
4 – Supporting Areas of Learning – technology can give a helping hand to other areas of learning. Using a drawing app like Doodle Buddy, the Notes app on iPads can help develop fine motor skills, while educational games can reinforce numeracy and literacy skills. Computing activities often require children to follow instructions and explain their thinking, which is great for building communication skills.
Key Stage 1
- Understand what algorithms are, how they are implemented as programs on digital devices, and that programs execute by following a sequence of instructions.
- Create and debug simple programmes.
- Use logical reasoning to predict the behaviour of simple programmes.
- Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.
- Recognise common uses of information technology beyond school.
- Communicate safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.
Key Stage 2
- Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.
- Use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output.
- Use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.
- Understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the World Wide Web (www); and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration.
- Describe how internet search engines find and store data; use search engines effectively; be discerning in evaluating digital content; respect individuals and intellectual property; use technology responsibility, securely and safely.
E-Safety is a fundamental part of Stanhope Primary School’s daily routine in safeguarding and protecting our children. We have a thorough E-Safety Policy that provides guidance for teachers, parents and children about how to use the internet safely. E-Safety is referenced throughout our school day as it is of vital importance to be safe and responsible when using technology and for the overall wellbeing of our pupils.
Implementation
All pupils at Stanhope Primary School have access to a high quality, broad and balanced Computing & E-Safety Curriculum. Our programme works to support our teachers in delivering fun and engaging lessons, which helps to raise standards and allow all pupils to achieve their full potential. Through this implementation, we aim to inspire pupils to develop a love of the digital world and to see its place in their future.
Stanhope Primary will ensure progression of skills and knowledge, with a deep level of understanding. Computing has significant links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. We will nurture the children’s development and provide opportunities for safe exploration in order to prepare them for the challenges ahead. Strengths will be recognised, achievements will be celebrated.
Our teachers will ensure the following whilst implementing the Computing and E-Safety curriculum:
- Lessons and resources are of a high standard with good quality content to help children to build on prior knowledge at the same time as introducing new skills and challenges.
- Clear expectations, learning objectives and success criteria.
- We use effective questioning to develop the children’s thinking process.
- Use of knowledge organisers to develop vocabulary.
- Promote a thinking classroom that encourages children’s curiosity.
- Offer a supportive environment using a range of scaffolding techniques to support all pupils, despite ability.
- Pupils are taught how to work independently as well as collaboratively.
- Have high expectations of all pupils to achieve and accomplish their goals/targets.
- We take on board the level of interest and motivation of our pupils.
- Have a high expectation of good/outstanding behaviour and positive attitudes.
- Ensure a balance between pace and engagement.
- Encourage our children to address any misconceptions in order to inform and improve future learning.
- Ensure our pupils make at least good progress.
- We observe and monitor the holistic development of the children (PSHE/SMSC)
- Safeguard and protect our children both online and offline.
Each year group will participate in weekly lessons on Computing and E-Safety as it is paramount that children understand how to stay safe when using technology.
Impact
At Stanhope Primary, we believe our Computing and E-Safety Curriculum is of high quality and is a model of which demonstrates excellent progression. Learning in computing will be enjoyed across the school by all.
We measure the impact of our Computing curriculum with various formative methods of assessment including self and peer assessment. Children assess each other’s work and suggest constructive developments, e.g. children find bugs in one another’s coding and with perseverance, debug and progress further. The children’s work will be recorded and assessed within their Purple Mash accounts, G-Suite drive within our school platform as well as in an ICT folder for any paper evidence used throughout.
We will observe and assess all three strands of Computing and the overarching E-Safety for the following:
Computer Science:
- Write their own algorithms and computer programmes with an increasing level of complexity.
- To use sequence, selection, repetition and variables in their programs.
- To find mistakes (bugs) and fix them.
- Evaluate programs to decide which is the most efficient.
- Demonstrate effective collaboration
Digital Literacy:
- Children need to be able to use technology safely.
- Understand the importance of keeping their personal information private and treat other people with respect.
- To know what to do if something goes wrong, or they see something they do not like (what to do and where to go for help).
- To know about how to use technology responsibly.
- Think about how their online behaviour affects others.
- Be aware of legal and ethical responsibilities, including respecting copyright and intellectual property rights, keeping passwords and personal data secure and observing terms and conditions for online services.
Information Technology:
- Understand that technology is everywhere
- Be able to identify the technology they encounter
- To have a basic understanding of how it works.
- Completed appropriate activities include word processing, creating images, taking and using photographs and video, creating music and animations, using and creating databases, producing websites and contributing to blogs.
- Have experience of manipulating and editing their own work and resources from elsewhere.
- Have an awareness of the audience and good design principles.
- To know how to store and organise their files so that it can be found easily again.
- Have an understanding of the devices they can use including: hard drive, USB sticks, school network server, and the cloud storage on the internet.
E-Safety:
E-Safety includes the use of the internet and other means of communication using electronic media (e.g. messages, online messaging, social media, gaming devices, e-mail etc.). Stanhope Primary will ensure that in practice, E-Safety is about keeping safe and being responsible online whilst also monitoring the holistic approach of the child. This is closely linked to PSHE/SMSC, ensuring the positive well-being, self-esteem and confidence levels of the child as well as noting changes in behaviour.
We will ensure that:
- We safeguard our children and young people in the digital world.
- Emphasis learning to understand and use new technologies in a positive way.
- Educate about the risks as well as the benefits so we can feel confident online.
- Support children and young people to develop safer online behaviours, both in and out of school.
In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Revisit and continuously assess our programme- reflect on standards achieved with the planned outcomes.
- Monitor teaching and learning (joint lesson observations).
- Monitoring of pupils work.
- Pupil discussions about their learning.
- Taking on advice and training from our Local Education Authority Team.
- Provide relevant and up to date CPD sessions for all staff.
- A celebration of learning which demonstrates progression across the school (assemblies, presentations, creating videos/displaying work)
- Taking part in whole school quizzes/authority quizzes as a way of networking.
Children will use digital and technological vocabulary accurately, alongside a progression in their technical skills. They will be confident using a range of hardware and software and will produce high-quality purposeful products. Children will see the digital world as part of their world, extending beyond school, and understand that they have choices to make. They will be confident and respectful digital citizens going on to lead happy and healthy digital lives. Through our thorough intentions, implementation and impact statements we are confident that we will see all pupils thrive, achieve and celebrate their successes.
Computing Curriculum Progression Map
E-Safety Short Progression of Skills
E-Safety Progression of Skills and Knowledge
