Welcome to our Computing and Online Safety page!

At Barford School, we are passionate about teaching our children about computing and technology in order to give them the best skills for their future lives and careers. 

We are so lucky to have access to a range of technology in school which we use in a wide variety of ways to enhance our curriculum across all subjects. At present, the school has access to one class set of iPads and two class sets of chromebooks, as well as a Clevertouch interactive whiteboard in each classroom. Each class has their own Google Classroom, and the children use the G Suite to produce documents, presentations and other work.

For our computing lessons, we follow the Kapow computing curriculum, which looks at skills such as coding, movie making, web design, programming and online safety. 

As a school, we also place a high priority on teaching our children about online safety. This is done through bespoke teaching units within our computing curriculum, as well as involving ourselves in Safer Internet Day each year. We also have Digital Leaders who provide their class with ideas about staying safe online, as well as meeting with the Online Safety Co-ordinator each month to discuss the topic and come up with ideas for raising awareness both in school and with parents.

Intent

Kapow Primary’s Computing scheme aims to instil a sense of enjoyment around using technology and to develop pupil’s appreciation of its capabilities and the opportunities technology offers to, create, manage, organise, and collaborate. Tinkering with software and programs forms a part of the ethos of the scheme as we want to develop pupils’ confidence when encountering new technology, which is a vital skill in the ever evolving and changing landscape of technology. Through our curriculum, we intend for pupils not only to be digitally competent and have a range of transferable skills at a suitable level for the future workplace, but also to be responsible online citizens.

The scheme of work enables pupils to meet the end of Key Stage Attainment targets outlined in the National curriculum and the aims align with those in the National curriculum. When used in conjunction with our RSE & PSHE scheme, the Computing scheme of work also satisfies all the objectives of the DfE’s Education for a Connected World framework. This guidance was created to help equip children for life in the digital world, including developing their understanding of appropriate online behaviour, copyright issues, being discerning consumers of online information and healthy use of technology.

Implement

The Kapow Primary scheme of work is designed with three strands which run throughout:

• Computer science
• Information technology
• Digital literacy

The implementation of Kapow Primary Computing ensures a broad and balanced coverage of the National curriculum requirements, and our ‘Skills showcase’ units provide pupils with the opportunity to learn and apply transferable skills. Where meaningful, units have been created to link to other subjects such as science, art, and music to enable the development of further transferable skills and genuine cross-curricular learning – this is highly encouraged.

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work as well as unplugged and digital activities. This variety means that lessons are engaging and appeal to those with a variety of learning styles. Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all pupils and opportunities to stretch pupils’ learning are available when required.

Online safety is given a high priority at Barford St. Peter’s, and therefore a minimum of one online safety lesson will be delivered in each class per half term. Project Evolve and Kapow will be the main schemes used to plan and deliver online safety lessons, however content and ideas from other sources are encouraged too.

Impact

After the implementation of Kapow Primary Computing, pupils should leave school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and be active participants in the ever-increasing digital world.

The expected impact of following the Kapow Primary Computing scheme of work is that children will:

• Be critical thinkers and able to understand how to make informed and appropriate digital choices in the future.
• Understand the importance that computing will have going forward in both their educational and working life and in their social and personal futures.
• Understand how to balance time spent on technology and time spent away from it in a healthy and appropriate manner.
• Understand that technology helps to showcase their ideas and creativity. They will know that different types of software and hardware can help them achieve a broad variety of artistic and practical aims.
• Show a clear progression of technical skills across all areas of the National curriculum - computer science, information technology and digital literacy.
• Be able to use technology both individually and as part of a collaborative team.
• Be aware of online safety issues and protocols and be able to deal with any problems in a responsible and appropriate manner.
• Have an awareness of developments in technology and have an idea of how current technologies work and relate to one another.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Computing.

Useful Links for Children

Here are the links to some great websites for children:

Useful links for parents

Online Safety at Home

Here are a couple of checklists to help with keeping your children safe online: