‘Computing is not about computers anymore. It is about living.’

Nicholas Negroponte

At High Halden, we recognise that, in an ever changing and developing society, it is important that our computing curriculum reflects the demands of the world for young people and their life beyond High Halden. Therefore, our computing curriculum seeks to equip children with the computational thinking skills they need to become digitally literate. Our curriculum, draws together the strands of computer science, information technology and digital literacy. Throughout the school, children learn the fundamental principles and process of computation; they gain practical experience of writing code to solve problems and model systems; they become skilled at creating high quality content using digital tools; and they become safe, responsible and critical users of technology. 

As a school we use Google as our key component for sharing and recording learning across the curriculum. In addition, we follow the Teach Compuitng scheme, produced by the NCCE (National Centre for Computing Eductation. Through this, pupils are taught using a range of word processing, presentation and data handling software, as well as coding, animation, photography and the use of online coding resources such as Espresso and Scratch. In Key Stage 1, pupils are taught simple coding techniques and begin to identify the need for computer programming in everyday contexts. In addition, children are taught effective computing skills and guided in their use of the internet to safely find and research information. Throughout Key Stage 2 children begin by building upon the skills acquired in Key Stage 1, to debug and analyse lines of code; make predictions of programmed events. Children sequence and develop efficient methods of coding, applying this to HTML to create their own webpages. Children in Key Stage 2 also further develop their use of word processors to summarise their learning across the curriculum and create online surveys to collate, handle and interpret data. When using the internet children are given the opportunity to research and find information more freely, whilst being taught the key principles to online use and how to find reliable information safely. 

This document shows the Computing curriculum coverage and progression at High Halden. As a school we have more in depth documents which detail the essential knowledge and skills children are expected to acquire by the end of each unit of work.