Computing
The National Curriculum computing programmes of study consist of three strands: computational thinking, digital literacy and information technology. These three strands are taught through hourly computing lessons every week.
Computing at The Sherwood teaches children how to use the internet safely and responsibly both in the school and in the wider community. The children are kept up to date with current issues surrounding online safety. Online Safety lessons take place at the beginning of each term with children being reminded of the SMART acronym:
S – Safe (keeping personal data safe);
M – Meeting can be dangerous;
A – Accepting emails from untrustworthy sources can lead to problems;
R – Reliable (people and information may not be reliable);
T – Tell an adult if someone or something makes you feel uncomfortable.
From Year 1 to Year 6, children are taught how to code using our scheme of work, ‘Purple Mash’. Coding supports the computational thinking strand of the curriculum. Children use logic to design, follow and debug algorithms.
Our scheme of work also enables the children to cover the other strands of the computing curriculum. Throughout Key Stage 1, children are taught to use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content. In Key Stage 2, children select, use and combine a variety of software on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplishes given goals.
Computing is utilised in other areas of the curriculum where children use their digital literacy skills to create content in subjects such as English, History and Geography. We support the children to fine tune their research and data gathering skills using ICT.
Through our computing curriculum, we want to ensure every child leaves The Sherwood with the knowledge, skills and understanding to be a responsible, competent, confident and creative user of information and communication technology.