Computing

Computing today is a part of everyday life. Children often arrive at Boughton having some experience of technology and devices. They may have accessed television through online services, seen people using mobile devices or listened to music through a digital platform. We want the children in our school to move from being just users of computers and software to becoming confident and creative explorers, inventors and problem solvers of computers, systems and software.

The new curriculum puts a clearer emphasis on three areas of learning:

· Computer science - how computers work and how to write algorithms and solve problems to eventually create a computer program.

· Information technology - how data is represented and managed on computers.

· Digital literacy - how to understand digital information and interact with it safely and appropriately.

Skills are developed throughout Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and utilise a variety of devices and learning platforms. Children are taught computer science through a variety of resources, apps and software. From KS1 our children are using floor and screen turtles to code and in KS2, using Scratch and building their own Lego models to programme and watch them come alive! Information technology enables children to use search technologies effectively and to use a variety of software to collect, analyse, evaluate and present data and information. We also encourage our children to become problem solvers: using logic and ideas about systems, patterns (and pattern languages), abstraction and decomposition.

At Boughton, pupils are lucky enough to have the opportunity to use Chromebooks, laptops and iPads within the class across a range of subjects. We have recently subscribed to Google Education, meaning each child has their own Google account, which they can access at home, to complete learning tasks. Online-safety forms a key part of all our learning and use of technology, as we aim to develop digitally literate citizens.