At Co-op Academy Princeville, the use of information and communication technology is an integral part of the national curriculum and is a key skill for everyday life. Computers, tablets, programmable robots, digital and video cameras are a few of the tools that can be used to acquire, organise, store, manipulate, interpret, communicate and present information.

At Co-op Academy Princeville, we recognise that pupils are entitled to quality hardware and software and a structured and progressive approach to the learning of the skills needed to enable them to use it effectively. The purpose of this intent is to state how the school intends to make this provision.

Technology is everywhere and will play a pivotal part in children’s lives. By providing children with a vast range of computing opportunities , we are broadening their career prospects and equipping them with skills and knowledge that is transferable throughout life. As a school, we want to model and educate our pupils on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our pupils to be creators not consumers and our broad and balanced curriculum reflects this. 

There are three key strands underpinning our Computing curriculum: Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy. Online safety is taught through the Digital Literacy strand. We use these strands to ensure that there is progression throughout the curriculum. 

At Co-op Academy Princeville we want our children to understand that there is always a choice with using technology and as a school we utilise technology (especially social media) to model positive use. We recognise that the best prevention for a lot of issues we currently see with technology/social media is through education. Because of this, we have carefully designed our Computing curriculum to have strong links with the PSHE curriculum, ensuring that children arrive to lessons with the necessary prior knowledge and understanding that they need to access the lesson content. 

In our unique curriculum, we recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways and open up the opportunity to experience the wider world. Our knowledge rich curriculum is balanced with the opportunity for children to apply their skills creatively which will in turn help our children become skilful computer scientists.

We encourage staff to embed computing across the whole curriculum to make learning creative and accessible. We want our pupils to be fluent with a range of tools to best express their understanding and, by Upper Key Stage 2, children have the independence and confidence to choose the best tool to fulfil the task and challenge set by teachers.

Our Computing curriculum priorities are: 

• To equip children to thrive in a world with ever changing technology.
• To enable children to be safe and responsible users of technology.
• To allow children to solve problems using computational thinking.
• To provide excitement, challenge and inspiration across our curriculum.
• To inspire children to be the creators and inventors of tomorrow.

We cover the full scope of the national curriculum for computing, which aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Can understand and apply the fundamental principles of computer science, including logic, algorithms, data representation, and communication
• Can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
• Can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems.
• Are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

We teach a curriculum that enables children to become effective users of technology who have:  

• Competence in coding for a variety of practical and inventive purposes, including the application of ideas within other subjects
• The ability to connect with others safely and respectfully, understanding the need to act within the law and with moral and ethical integrity
• An understanding of the connected nature of devices
• The ability to communicate ideas well using application and devices throughout the curriculum
• The ability to collect, organise and manipulate data effectively

In Early Years we give children a broad, play-based experience of ICT and computing in a range of contexts, including outdoor play – it is not just about computers. Our early years learning environments feature ICT scenarios based on experience in the real world, such as in role play. 

The Digital Literacy strand provides opportunities for children to explore types of technology both in and outside of school and how this technology can be used safely and responsibly. They also learn that there are many different types of media content including; sound, images, books, podcasts/audiobooks and video via the web.

Online Safety in EYFS teaches children that the Internet can be used to communicate with others and provides opportunities to explore simple safety rules of using the internet. Children also learn that people create online content such as video and websites.

In the Information Technology strand, children learn how various devices and apps can be used in the classroom. They also learn to independently choose an application for a particular purpose, access the web on a classroom device and type keywords into a search engine.

Children begin to develop their Computer Science skills by exploring what algorithms are and how they are used to control devices. They do this by creating and debugging simple programs to control Bee-Bots. Through play, children also learn about action/reaction and will be asked “what do you think will happen?” when using technology or attempting to solve a problem.

In Year 2, the Digital Literacy strand provides opportunities for children to learn about different methods of online communication and types of media contents that can be found online. Children will also explore how the internet is used and why it is important to stick to the rules.

Within Digital Literacy, online safety teaches children about age appropriate, safe and suitable sites/ apps. They learn about trusted adults and the important of ensuring a trusted adult knows who they are interacting with online and what they are sharing. Children will also learn about the potential risks of posting something online.

During the Information Technology strand, children create presentations and basic digital books that contain text, images and information that is well designed using more than one app/ piece of software. They also use basic skills to search and navigate the results in a search engine to answer questions. Simple databases are used within the Information technology strand to find and organise information and data.

Children continue to develop their Computer Science skills in Year 2 by creating and debugging simple programs that include a repeat X times loop. They are provided with opportunities to make accurate predictions and check these by creating their own programs. Children also learn about the difference between inputs and outputs. 

In Year 3, children create, refine and debug simple algorithms.  They begin to understand and identify simple inputs and outputs by creating simple programs. Within the Media strand, children continue to use a range of formatting tools to create documents. Additionally, they create projects such as slide shows and storyboards. This is done by adding audio, images and short animations. Finally they begin to reflect and evaluate their work and make changes quickly and effectively. Children continue to build on their data handling skills by collecting, organising and interpreting data to find out answers to questions. This is then represented for different purposes across the curriculum using charts and graphs, which are stored on a database. In the Information Literacy strand, children use child friendly websites and encyclopedias  to search for information, which they use to complete specific tasks e.g. copy, paste and edit relevant information.

In Year 4, children continue to develop their Computer Science skills by exploring different games to understand what makes a good game. This enables them to design and code a simple game, using selection. They also learn to transfer and debug existing code in order to improve it. During the Media strand, our Year 4 children learn about different camera shots and use these to capture quality still and moving images. They further develop their skills by planning, creating and editing longer animations which feature layers of audio and appropriate graphics. The focus of Data Handling in Year 4 is creating and using a database to represent data. In this unit, children will learn to create search criteria and use database tools to find answers, perform simple calculations within a spreadsheet and convert data into different graph types for a specific purpose. Further building on the Information Literacy skills learnt in Year 3, children locate online content using key words and advanced features of a search engine. They compare and combine information from a range of sources, checking for relevance and accuracy. 

In Year 5, children use a range of computer science skills to decompose existing programs and turn algorithms into code. To do this they learn the importance of variables in programs and  the use of variables to modify games. Eventually they use selection in programming to create a game aimed at an audience. Building on from learning in Year  3 and 4, children identify inputs and outputs by creating programs to control devices. This is done by exploring what networks are and how they are used to transfer information. Children plan and create a film, slideshow or presentations by using a range of 2D and 3D representations. They develop criteria for evaluating theirs and others work and finally they edit and deliver their project. In the Data Handling strand children continue to analyse data by using technology to search and sift through information. They then create a database by creating and using formulae in spreadsheets. Using the information in a database they interrogate it using suitable questions. The focus of Information Literacy in Year 5 is to cross reference information from a variety of sources to check for bias and implausibility, which is done by using search engines and filtering tools. The children use advanced features of search engines and begin to question the validity and plausibility of information found based on author and organisation. 

In Year 6, children use the Computer Science skills learnt in Year 3, 4 and 5 to design, write and debug a program to solve a problem, using variables and selection. The Year 6 Media strand provides children with opportunities to use a CAD application (3D design tool) to create a representation of an object. They also independently combine various forms of media purposefully as part of a project including manipulating multi-track music to refine it and adapting individual features to enhance the overall presentation. During the Data Handling strand, children independently collect and use data to test hypotheses, representing this as a database, spreadsheet or infographic.  They then use this data to create models of information to offer solutions to real life problems. The focus of Data Handling in Year 6 continues to focus on the reliability and validity of information. Children continue cross reference information from a variety of sauces to check for bias and make informed judgements on the validity and plausibility using criteria they have set. 

There are some real areas of strength in our children’s computing experiences when they start school:

• Many of our children have access to an Ipad or mobile device at home so have had some practice of controlling a device prior to schooling. 
• A large proportion of our families also have some internet access at home. Because of this, many of our children have prior knowledge and understanding of the internet and how to navigate and use certain websites. 

However, there are some aspects of learning, knowledge and context that really challenge us: 

• Some parents don’t have computing skills, and don’t have access to a variety of technology in the home. This can limit our children’s exposure to basic computing skills, knowledge and understanding. 

• Many children start school without the relevant knowledge and understanding of the potential dangers when accessing the internet. They lack the appropriate E-safety skills and knowledge to keep them safe when using a range of technology.

At Princeville we plan to provide for all pupils to achieve, including boys and girls, higher achieving pupils, gifted and talented pupils, those with SEND, pupils with disabilities, pupils from all social and cultural backgrounds, children who are in care and those subject to safeguarding, pupils from different ethnic groups and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds.