Computing

Intent
Computing is an essential part of the curriculum; a subject that not only stands alone but is an integral part of all learning. Computing, in general, is a significant part of everyone’s daily life and children should be at the forefront of new technologies; understand how to use and adapt them for their own needs. Computing within schools can therefore provide a wealth of learning opportunities and transferrable skills across the curriculum and their daily lives. Through this scheme of work children will develop a wide range of fundamental skills, knowledge and understanding that will ensure they are masters of using technology safely and creatively. They will be ready for their world.
 
Implementation
We have broken up our scheme into manageable blocks to ensure children have key understanding in every year group. Each block consists of 4 lessons with block 6 being a recap of other key skills learnt.
 
 
Impact:
The impact and measure of this is to ensure children not only acquire the appropriate age-related knowledge linked to the computing curriculum, but also skills which equip them to progress from their starting points, and within their everyday lives. This curriculum is reviewed every two years to keep up with advances in technology and will hopefully shift with the development of the children’s skills.
All children will have:
• A wider variety of skills to make them digitally literate,
• A richer vocabulary which will enable to articulate their understanding of taught concepts,
• High aspirations, which will see them through to further study, work and a successful adult life.
• A curiosity for the world around them which will enable them to be inquisitive and question new concepts which come their way.
• Respect for themselves and their peers in an ever-growing technological world. Children will leave St John’s ready for life in their own Modern Britain.
 

Online Safety

e-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe at St John's . We have extensive security measures in place in school, which are monitored both internally and externally, to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material. Any e-Safety incidents are recorded and managed.  e-Safety is taught to all pupils explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online.

We can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent. It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online.

As part of our participation in the Speak Out Stay Safe programme, our colleagues from the NSPCC delivered an online workshop session for parents. Please follow the link below for further advice and guidance on how to keep our children safe online.

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-we-do/about-us/partners/nspcc-o2-online-safety-partnership/

 

It’s essential to be realistic - banning the internet or technology will not work and it often makes a child less likely to report a problem. Education around safe use is essential.

Search engines

Please note that no search engine is ever 100% safe but below provides some links to some “safer” search engines:

Research searching

CBBC
Kids Yahoo

Google offers a safer search option for children searching on the Internet. You can find out how to do this by downloading the instructions at the bottom of the page. 

Image searching

Pics4Learning
Kiddle

Gaming

When children are accessing games via Xbox LIVE, privacy settings can be set up.  To read more, click here.

Websites for more information

Please click on the icon to go to the relevant site


CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) delivers a multi-agency service dedicated to tackling the abuse and exploitation of children in the real and ‘e’ world. Often it is referred to as an online 999. By clicking on the button, young people and parents can get advice on a range of issues such as viruses, hacking and dealing with bullying online.

Vodafone have produced a Digital Parenting Magazine which informs parents about the various technologies children are accessing today. There is information on Facebook settings, Xbox 360 settings, Blackberry settings, jargon busting and many more 'How to Guides'. They are well worth a read and some are attached below for you to download. 


The “Thinkuknow” website is brought to you by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre.

 

CHILDNET

Childnet gives you lots of advice on how to stay safe online.

New e-Safety Portal for Parents and Schools – Internet Matters

Internet Matters is a new online portal designed for parents to access simple, easy and practical advice about online safety for their children, right through from pre-school to teens. It provides tips on protecting children from online grooming, cyberbullying, privacy and identity theft and inappropriate content. Internet Matters is a not-for profit organisation set up by BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media. 

ParentINFO is a collaboration between ParentZone and CEOP.  There are useful guides and articles on helping your child stay safe online.