Ambition

There is no doubt that we move in a rapidly shifting digital age and it is important that our children have a fluency and understanding of a range of systems, and how they can be utilised. Our computing curriculum provides pupils with a high-quality computing education that equips them with the skills and knowledge in computational thinking, and the creativity to understand and cope with the technological changing world.

We seek to ensure that children are aware that, whilst computing offers a range of incredible and exciting ways to do things, that they are also aware of the dangers; therefore online safety is an integral part of our computing curriculum and ensure that our pupils are  equipped with the skills needed to stay safe online and support them in the digital world.

How we achieve our ambitions 

The computing curriculum at Parklands is designed to develop children’s knowledge, understanding and application of computing skills.

We have segmented this into 4 key areas:

• Algoriths/Computer Science – this enables the children to develop coding understanding, building from using logical reasoning to perform simple programming and debugging of floor turtles, to designing code in more sophisticated ways – such as using visual code in Scratch and Kodu to using  script based code in Python.
• Information Technology – which progresses from children having an understanding of how to search the internet and use websites, to our children evaluating information provided online, and having an understanding of local and global networks and how to keep information secure.
• Digital Literacy – which enables our children, across their time at Parklands, to use a range of software. We ensure our children are grounded in everyday business software, but we also make sure that they utilise other exciting software- from recording podcasts, to music making, to film making and games designing – we encourage literacy across a range of software applications.
• Online Safety – which supports our children in understanding risks online, how to use online information safely and legally, and to evaluate the reliability of online content.

Outcomes

Through the curriculum, our children build breadth of knowledge and understanding of computing and safety so they are able to leave Parklands as competent IT users so they are successfully able to interact with the world around them, and draw upon the many benefits that IT can bring to our every day and working lives for the future.

More than this, we also seek to engage the children with new, emerging and exciting technology and topics. Our children create video games, become music and film producers, and use VR Headsets to travel the world. This ensures that our children are not just competent – they are excited, forward thinking users of technology.