Within an ever changing and technological world, Bliss Primary School understands and values the importance of teaching computing from a young age. Future generations will rely heavily on their computational confidence and digital skills in order to support their progress within their chosen career paths; our role is vital in giving the children the foundations in order to live in an ever-evolving, technological world. 

It is our school’s intention to equip our children with the relevant skills and knowledge that is required to understand the three core areas of Computing: Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy. 

Computing is an integral part to a child’s education and everyday life. We intend to support our learners to access and understand the core principles of this subject through engaging activities; also ensuring they understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with online experiences. We strive for our children to develop as respectful, responsible and confident users of technology; aware of measures that can be taken to keep themselves and others safe online. 

We intend:  

• to instil an enthusiasm and appreciation of computing via engaging and well-planned lessons; 
• to follow a scheme of work, in conjunction with the National Curriculum, which provides progression and a breadth of knowledge across all year groups; 
• to ensure that staff continue to access the opportunities to attend subject relevant CPD in order to deliver sessions with confidence and to help identify areas in which they can use computational skills within a cross-curricular approach as part of their termly topics; 
• to ensure that pupils develop a respectful and responsible attitude towards using information and communication technology, especially with regards to their own and other’s safety 
• to provide a safe space in which pupils can navigate and interact with the digital world.

At Bliss Primary, we follow the ‘Teach Computing’ scheme of work which covers all aspects of the National Curriculum. This scheme was chosen as it has been created by subject experts and based on the latest pedagogical research. It provides a progression framework where computing content (concepts, knowledge, skills and objectives) has been organised into interconnected networks called learning graphs. 

The curriculum aims to equip our learners with the knowledge, skills and understanding they need to thrive in the digital world of today and the future. The curriculum is broken down into 3 strands: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. 

This scheme of work gives full coverage of the national curriculum for computing aims to ensure all pupils: 

• can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation (Computer science); 
• can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems (Computer science); 
• can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems (Information technology); 
• are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. (Digital literacy).

A key part of implementing our computing curriculum is to ensure that safety of our pupils is paramount. We take online safety very seriously and we aim to give children the necessary skills to keep themselves safe online. Children have a right to enjoy childhood online, to access safe online spaces and to benefit from all the opportunities that a connected world can bring them, appropriate to their age and stage. Online safety and responsible use of technology are topics covered in computing and PSHE lessons, assemblies and during events such as Safer Internet Day. 

To help with our implementation of the computing curriculum we have a variety of hardware available, including: 

• Laptops, 
• iPads, 
• Beebots,
• Crumbles, 
• Makey Makey’s. 

Each teacher is provided with: 

• A laptop, 
• An iPad ,
• An Interactive Whiteboard.

Our children enjoy and value Computing and know why they are doing things, not just how.  

The success of the curriculum itself will be assessed via the analysis of twice-yearly progress data, lesson observations, reviewing children’s work and pupil voice. This will then inform future adaptions of the scheme of work and help to ensure that progression is evident throughout school.   

In order to demonstrate that we have accomplished our aims, pupils at Bliss Primary should: 

• be enthusiastic and confident in their approach towards Computing; 
• be able to talk confidently about their work, and share their work with others; 
• be able to identify the source of problems and work with perseverance to ‘debug’ them; 
• create and evaluate their own project work; 
• have a secure understanding of the positive applications and specific risks associated with a broad range of digital technology; 
• transition to secondary school with a keen interest in the continued learning of this subject.