At Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy, we are digital innovators. We want our children to understand the potential of technology and start to build computing skills for the future. We want them to become digital creators, using technology to support other areas of their work and lives, and also to understand the responsibilities of being digital consumers on their time, relationships and wellbeing. Our Computing curriculum strives to develop resilient, reflective, creative and independent learners. It also engages our children, through the creative use of technology, to prepare pupils for the demands of the 21st century and the technological world that awaits them in the future. We teach them to become good digital citizens, to know how to stay safe and keep others safe online, to be aware of the need to test out what and who they see and the importance of what they share in creating their own digital footprint. By the time they leave Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy, our students will have gained key knowledge and skills in the three main areas of the National Curriculum for computing:
Computer Science
Programming and understanding how digital systems work
Information Technology
Using computer systems to store, retrieve and send information
Digital Literacy
Evaluating digital content and using technology safely and respectfully
The objectives within each strand support the progressive development of learning across all key stages, ensuring a solid grounding for future learning and beyond.
Additionally, encompassing the Relationships, Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education curriculum, students will learn how to stay safe online and the importance of understanding the impact of screen time on their own digital wellbeing.
The effective integration of computing enhances the learner’s opportunity to connect globally and to explore different perspectives in order to understand evolving cultural and social norms. Computing should be about more than using hardware and software. Its purpose should be to develop a combination of transferable skills and understanding so that students can actively participate in a digitally connected world.
At Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy, the implementation of the computing curriculum is woven into a range of lessons throughout each day richly linking to engaging contexts in other subjects and topics, with more complex skills being discreetly taught where appropriate. Employing cross-curricular links motivates pupils and supports them to make connections and remember the steps they have been taught. For example, children in Key Stage 1 learn what algorithms are, which leads them to the design stage of programming in Key Stage 2, where they design, write and debug programs, explaining the thinking behind their algorithms.
To ensure our children are aware of how to use the internet and its many wonderful resources we have implemented an online safety scheme of work that encompasses resources from Google Internet Legends, Project Evolve and National Online Safety. The schemes are relevant to the children’s interests and needs, to ensure that a full coverage of the curriculum is met.
Our approach to the computing curriculum results in a fun, engaging, and high-quality computing education. Our scheme of work from Teach Computing enables all learners to be taught skills above and beyond the National Curriculum. Children are happy learners who have a thorough grasp of computing knowledge. They experience a wide range of learning and are encouraged to be creative and collaborative in order to express their ideas and challenge themselves.
To make the most of the internet, children need to make smart decisions. Our scheme of work from NOS for online safety and digital wellbeing empowers students to use the web safely and wisely, so they can be confident explorers of the online world.
Much of the subject-specific knowledge developed during their time at Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy equips students with experiences which will benefit them in secondary school, further education and future workplaces. From research methods, use of presentation and creative tools and critical thinking, computing at Leigh Stationers’ Primary Academy gives students the solid foundation that enables them to pursue a wide range of interests and vocations in the next stage of their lives.