The Computing curriculum at The Roche School aims to ensure that pupils are excited by technology and its possibilities. Initially, pupils are equipped with skills enabling them to interact with and explore technology efficiently before moving on to other key skills such as word processing and search. Pupils continue to build up their proficiencies moving on to more specialised computing skills. E-Safety and the role of technology in their personal lives is addressed in KS2.

Early Years: Computing in the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) involves using technology creatively; children use technology as a tool to help them explore and observe things about their environment and the places around them. They will begin to learn keyboard and mouse skills as well as key terminology.

In Key Stage 1 the children start to learn some keyboard and mouse skills to enable them to produce short pieces of text, sometimes with illustrations from clip art or imported images from the internet. They also learn to use search engines to locate information and pictures for topic work. In Reception,  the children learn to make remote control toys move by entering simple commands. This is followed up in Year 1 and 2 with Microworlds Junior, an introduction to basic programming. Pupils also investigate simple troubleshooting alongside touch-typing and some word processing.

In Key Stage 2, we continue to focus on computer literacy with pupils working on using local and web-based search tools to find files and information as well as developing an ability to judge the relevance and worth of their search results. They also begin cross-curricular work using programmes such as Microsoft Publisher & Excel within other subjects. Work on coding begins.  In Years 5 and 6 pupils will continue their work on coding, exploring complex algorithms in ‘Scratch’ and ‘Lego Mindstorm’ computer programmes. Alongside this, they start to explore the modelling software, Google ‘Sketch Up’. Year 6 investigate how to use scale, different aspects and various tools to build scale models of buildings and objects.

E-Safety is also a large aspect of computing in Key Stage 2: as technology has become integral to our lives, it is essential that we teach “proper use” as opposed to “restricted use”. We will focus on ‘digital presence’ and our aim is to equip pupils with a strong sense of respect and responsibility, as well as the ability to recognise acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and how to deal with it.

Assessment: Clear learning intentions for each module are set and their progress is monitored by specific ‘success criteria’ which provide goals for them to achieve and exceed. Informal, formative assessment takes place every lesson with each pupil having access to personal feedback. Having open goals and regular feedback allows the children to become independent learners who assume responsibility for their own learning as well as setting their own personal goals.

Enrichment: There are clubs relating to computing available to all children including Filmmaking and Roche Robotics. Furthermore, there are council-run challenges as well as opportunities for pupils to use their computing knowledge to help them create projects relating to other subjects or to outside interests too.