Computing

All children at HEARTS have the right to have a rich curriculum that balances all the aspects of computing. With technology playing such a significant role in society today, we believe computing are skills children must be taught if they are to be able to participate effectively and safely in this digital world. A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use creativity to understand and change the world.

We aim for children to:

• be digitally literate, able to express themselves and develop ideas through a range of information and communication technology
• extract, interpret and evaluate information
• apply their skills independently across the curriculum, making thoughtful choices about effective use of technology
• be confident when using new or unknown technology
• be ready for the next stage of their education and for the future and ever-changing digital world

We follow a mastery curriculum; we are determined that all children learn to apply their skills confidently and independently. The curriculum is specifically designed to overcome significant barriers to learning within our school communities, including a focus on discussing ideas and giving clear explanations using appropriate vocabulary. In EYFS, we ensure children have the opportunities for school readiness and give them a broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. Computational Thinking is at the heart of the computing curriculum and children will only be ready for this subject if we provide them with foundational experiences in the early years. The problem solving of Computational Thinking closely aligns with the Characteristics of Effective Learning. We have aligned our EYFS provision to Computational Thinking, to introduce children to the same vocabulary as used in key stage 1 and 2 to ensure progression.

Children in reception have specific lessons to support their development of computational thinking as well as safety both on and offline. In Key stage 1 and 2, we use the Teach Computing scheme of work which is informed by the latest pedagogical research and developed by subject experts. In this computing scheme, unit themes are revisited and developed in every year group. This allows children to build upon prior knowledge, develop their curiosity and embed essential knowledge into their long-term memory. The units covered each year are: Computing Systems and Networks, Creating Media, Data and Information and Programming. Throughout these units, all strands of the national curriculum are covered and children learn the main aspects of the overarching computing curriculum themes which are:



• Information Technology – word processing, data handling, presentations, animation, video creation, photography and digital art, augmented reality, sound, create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content
• Computer Science – Computational thinking, coding/programming, computer networks
• Digital Literacy (including Online Safety) – self-image and identity, Online relationships, Online reputation, Online bullying, Managing Online Information, Health, wellbeing, Privacy and Security, Copyright and Ownership

At HEARTS we use direct, instructional teaching and modelling, but in every lesson there are opportunities for children to independently explore software and hardware.  This enables children to use logical reasoning as they predict the behaviour of simple programmes; detect and correct errors in algorithms and solve problems.  It also allows children to explore for themselves the features of programmes and use them for effect.  Children are encouraged to find answers to questions such as: “What happens if?”, “How can I achieve this?” All lessons support vocabulary development and acquisition. Children are introduced to new words, learn their definitions and have the opportunity to apply newly acquired vocabulary.