Computing

Quality of Education

At Uplands we believe that computing should be embedded across the curriculum enabling children to develop their skills in many forms and in different subjects. Computing is a vital tool for learning and should be creative and productive enabling all learners to excel and succeed. We believe that our engaging and motivating computing curriculum will allow our learners to become digitally literate for lifelong learning in our modern world.

Our programme of study reflects the aims and objectives from the National Curriculum 2014. Our aim is to provide a high-quality computing education which equips children to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. In order to do this, we instil positive online learning behaviours and equip children with the knowledge and skills to become independent learners in a safe, considerate and respectful manner. All children will be equipped with the knowledge and progressive skills so that they can access the computing curriculum planned. The key areas on which we focus upon are programming, multimedia, online safety, handling data and technology in our lives. Online safety and PSHE units of work features heavily within our computing curriculum and links are made to reinforce pupils’ knowledge and understanding within these areas.

At Uplands, it is our mission that all pupils have a breadth of experience to develop their understanding of themselves as individuals within their community but also as members of a wider, global community and as responsible digital citizens who are aware of the ever-evolving use of technology within our world.

All children receive a unique programme of study which builds upon their KS1 experience but also introduces them to new concepts such as Digital Designer and Digital Filmmaker.

Computing lessons are taught on a timetabled weekly basis; teachers are encouraged to use links where they can to develop computing skills across the curriculum.

Pupils are exclusively taught the following units 3-6

Brilliant Basics
Digital Researcher and Presenter
Digital Programmer

These units of work show progression in skills across the years and develop the pupils knowledge and understanding using a variety of tools, software/apps. Within each unit there are opportunities for children to experience further challenges.

Other units taught are repeated in Lower and Upper school where once again the children can apply what they have learnt previously as well as developing a deeper understanding.

Digital Artist

Digital Broadcaster
Digital Designer
Digital Publisher
Digital Animator
Digital Film Maker
Digital Musician
Digital Data Handler

Children are taught within mixed ability classes sometimes working independently, in pairs or groups dependent on the activity/outcome of the unit.

In school, children have access to a variety of devices: iPads, laptops and Chromebooks. These are used to provide rich and varied resources. As a google school, we have access to Chromebooks to ensure an easy transition when uploading evidence and using Google workspace (G Suite) to carry out homework, class work and computing tasks.

By implementing the intent, children should be confident in the following areas:

Children are inquisitive about Computing Units of work and are confident learners when asking and answering questions when taking part in on and off screen activities.
Children are assertive learners who want to explore ideas and use problem solving strategies to identify misconceptions within their knowledge and practical computing tasks.
The Computing teaching at Uplands inspires learners who take risks and are not afraid to make mistakes and edit/adjust work as required.

The assessment of computing is through teacher assessment at the end of each unit of work. Staff, individually or as a cohort select examples of pupils work that shows evidence of working towards, expected and greater depth standard and upload these to the platform/Google Classroom using the knowledge and progressions sheet outcomes for the unit taught.

It is the role of the computing champion to ensure continuity and progress across the whole school. This is carried out through the following.