COMPUTING

At St Andrew’s, we believe that computing is a key life skill to prepare our children for a rapidly changing world, where work and leisure activities are increasingly being transformed by technology. We aim to enable children to find, explore, analyse, exchange, and present information in a variety of creative ways, broadening their horizons. Our pupils must be prepared for the ever-evolving technological world, and we have designed our computing curriculum with this in mind.  

The computing curriculum is delivered through the Purple Mash scheme of work, with every lesson individually planned to be effectively taught using our existing infrastructure and cater to the needs of all pupils. Our computing curriculum has been closely referenced against the National Curriculum attainment targets in order to ensure progression and coverage. This ensures that we have effectively sequenced skills, knowledge, and context, resulting in pupils receiving a wide range of opportunities during their time at St Andrew’s.  

Having separate computing lessons means that children are able to develop depth in their knowledge and skills over the duration of each of their computing units of work, which is carefully planned using our Purple Mash scheme of work. In computing lessons, the children will use either iPads or laptops in order to access a range of apps and software.  

In addition to Purple Mash, we also use the UK Government's digital literacy framework, "Education for a Connected World." The framework has been designed for school leaders, teachers, and other members of the educational workforce to assist in creating a rich, effective, and developmental curriculum that will empower young people to be safe, healthy, and flourishing online. The framework's design enables its integration throughout the entire curriculum and serves as a fundamental component of our whole-school approach to safeguarding and online safety. It provides guidance, teaching and learning resources, and support for children and young people to live knowledgeably, responsibly, and safely in the digital world. The framework specifically focuses on eight key areas of online education:

• Self-image and identity
• Online relationships
• Online reputation
• Online bullying
• Managing online information
• Health, well-being, and lifestyle
• Privacy and security
• Copyright and ownership  

During our Safer Internet Fortnight each year, we also use the Common Sense education website at this link to find further digital citizenship lesson planning ideas: https://www.commonsense.org/uk/digital-citizenship

This helps us to have a successful safer internet fortnight and ensures that all pupils and parents will engage in our activities and remain up-to-date regarding online safety.