Computing

Purpose and Aims

Purpose

To equip pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. At Harpenden Academy we use computing across the curriculum to embed these skills.. At Harpenden Academy our key concepts that we teach the children are eSafety, digital literacy, computational thinking, programming and data representation. The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world. We use the education for a connected world document to ensure that the children are taught all areas of e-safety at a suitable age appropriate level. Each Rising Stars unit begins with a e-safety lesson which links to their learning.

Aims

• Can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
• Can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• Can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
• Are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Provision

We follow the Rising Stars switched on curriculum throughout school. Our curriculum is categorised in 2 ways:

• Breadth - which gives pupils experiences of a range of computing experiences covering programming, computational thinking, creativity, computer networks and productivity.
• Depth - which helps pupils to think and act like effective coders and users of technology and makers who carry out research, ask questions, work constructively and independently.

Whilst coverage is our goal for the “breadth” element, repetition and increasing the understanding is our goal for the “depth” element.

Our curriculum drivers shape our approach to teaching computing so that every opportunity is taken to relate the needs of our pupils. Computing is studied throughout each academic year and across each key stage so that pupils can gain a growing developmental understanding of the coding, communicating, connecting and collecting in our curriculum. Coherent contexts for learning engage and involve pupil.

Progression and Assessment

Although we follow Rising Stars Switched on Computing scheme we adapt out our teaching and expectations to work alongside the Chris Quigley Essentials “mile stones” approach. It is expected that the vast majority of pupils will have an advancing understanding by the end of the unit and some will have a deep understanding.

Assessment and reporting

We will assess the pupil’s depth of understanding each term and use this to forecast as to whether pupils are on track to meet our curriculum expectations for the end of the milestone.

Monitoring, evaluation and improvement

The role of the leader in monitoring pupil’s outcomes is to audit teacher’s judgements. This is done collectively in staff meetings and then collated by the leader. The leader then works collectively with the teachers to examine the strengths of the provision along with the areas for development for the provision. The leaders then create an action plan to improve achievement. The leader keeps track of the improvements they have secured over time to understand how effect the provision is.

See below the progression of our whole school scheme of work following the Rising Stars curriculum:

Unit	Title	Unit Summary	Computing Programme of Study focus
Year 1 – Autumn 1	We are treasure hunters	Using programmable toys	Programming
Year 1 – Autumn 2	We are TV chefs	Filming the steps of a recipe	Computational thinking
Year 1 – Spring 1	We are painters	Illustrating an eBook	Creativity
Year 1 – Spring 2	We are collectors	Finding images using the web	Computer networks
Year 1 – Summer 1	We are storytellers	Producing a talking book	Communication/Collaboration
Year 1 – Summer 2	We are celebrating	Creating a card electronically	Productivity
Year 2 – Autumn 1	We are astronauts	Programming on screen	Programming
Year 2 – Autumn 2	We are game testers	Exploring how computer games work	Computational thinking
Year 2 – Spring 1	We are photographers	Taking, selecting and editing digital images	Creativity
Year 2 – Spring 2	We are researchers	Researching a topic	Computer networks
Year 2 – Summer 1	We are detectives	Communicating clues	Communication/Collaboration
Year 2 – Summer 2	We are zoologists	Recording bug hunt data	Productivity
Year 3 – Autumn 1	We are programmers	Programming an animation	Programming
Year 3 – Autumn 2	We are bug fixers	Finding and correcting bugs in programs	Computational thinking
Year 3 – Spring 1	We are presenters	Videoing performance	Creativity
Year 3 – Spring 2	We are vloggers	Making and sharing a short screen cast presentation	Computer networks
Year 3 – Summer 1	We are communicators	Communicating safely on the internet	Communication/Collaboration
Year 3 – Summer 2	We are opinion pollsters	Collecting and analysing data	Productivity
Year 4 – Autumn 1	We are software developers	Developing a simple educational game	Programming
Year 4 – Autumn 2	We are toy designers	Prototyping an interactive toy	Computational thinking
Year 4 – Spring 1	We are musicians	Producing digital music	Creativity
Year 4 – Spring 2	We are HTML editors	Editing and Writing HTML	Computer networks
Year 4 – Summer 1	We are co-authors	Producing a wiki	Communication/Collaboration
Year 4 – Summer 2	We are meteorologists	Presenting the weather	Productivity
Year 5 – Autumn 1	We are game developers	Developing an interactive game	Programming
Year 5 – Autumn 2	We are cryptographers	Cracking codes	Computational thinking
Year 5 – Spring 1	We are artists	Fusing geometry and art	Creativity
Year 5 – Spring 2	We are web developers	Creating a web page about cyber safety	Computer networks
Year 5 – Summer 1	We are bloggers	Sharing experiences and opinions	Communication/Collaboration
Year 5 – Summer 2	We are architects	Creating a virtual space	Productivity
Year 6 – Autumn 1	We are adventure gamers	Making a text-based adventure game	Programming
Year 6 – Autumn 2	We are computational thinkers	Mastering algorithms for searching, sorting and mathematics	Computational thinking
Year 6 – Spring 1	We are advertisers	Creating a short television advert	Creativity
Year 6 – Spring 2	We are network engineers	Exploring computer networks including the internet	Computer networks
Year 6 – Summer 1	We are travel writers	Using media and mapping to document a trip	Productivity
Year 6 – Summer 2	We are publishers	Creating a year book	Communication/collaboration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 1 Elmer Class, Algorithms for our Robots

We loved being computer scientists in Elmer class today. We programmed our robots to follow our algorithms. When the robots didn't do quite what we thought they would we debugged and tried again!

Elmer Class, Tate Modern Paint

The highlight of the week has been seeing the children access a new resource release by the Tate Modern which helped us with our Computing learning https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/games-quizzes/tate-paint Using this, the children experimented with the different 'paint' techniques to create an effective picture of a character/setting from a book. 

 

Dahl class using Powerpoint to create presentations

In Dahl class we have presented our own improvements for Harpenden, we have worked really hard! Our class voted and the winning improvements were for a splash park in Rothamstead and a nature reserve with bird hides on the common.

Elmer Class video skills 

Elmer class have been developing their videoing skills. Today we pretended to be TV chefs and film our new cooking show. The children really enjoyed being in front of and behind the camera. In a few weeks we will become TV chefs for real!

Potter class in a pickle! 

Potter class are all in a pickle! In Computing we have been learning how to debug a program to make a pizza. We showed a lot of perseverance and had a lot of fun!

Dahl class cracking codes 

Yesterday, Dahl class enjoyed using semaphore to send secret messages to their friends,we found it quite tricky!

Esafety lesson in Elmer class 

Elmer enjoyed their eSafety lesson learning about keeping their personal information safe. We used the 'Kim and Lee' video to stimulate our discussion. The children then created their own comic strips. Well done Y1-you are very responsible online users!

Elmer being TV chefs 

Elmer have been learning about how to use an internet search to find images. Today we searched for TV chefs, recipes and food linked with our new unit 'We are TV chefs'. We also started to think about how the camera is used during filming of a TV show.

Coding in Elmer Class, Year 1

In Computing this week, Year 1 Elmer Class have been writing and testing our algorithms. We used simple code to predict where we thought the Beebot would go. We then de-bugged our algorithms.

Cyber Bullying

Amazingly informative and creative cyber bullying home learning in Year 6

Creative Friday, Animation

We love Creative Friday! The children have been using the iMotion app to create short animations. We were inspired by Morph (for those of you old enough to remember!)