Computing

Intent – What do we want children to learn?

At Birchwood, we want every child to enjoy Computing and feel confident using technology in creative and safe ways. Our curriculum helps them build problem-solving skills, explore their ideas, and understand how to stay safe online. Along the way, children have chances to celebrate their successes and meet real experts.

Birchwood’s Bespoke Curriculum

We make learning meaningful by linking skills to real-life situations. Pupils in Key Stage 2 take part in STEM challenges at Woodbridge Senior School, with recent activities focusing on computational thinking to build reasoning and problem-solving. Year 5 pupils use research and presentation skills to create promotional material for our Suffolk Day Dish project. Pupils apply presentation and spreadsheet skills through the Birchwood Chicken micro-business, managing egg sales to the school and community to ensure a real profit is made.

Implementation – How are we going to achieve our intent?

The Computing curriculum has three parts: computer science, information technology, and digital literacy. Computer science teaches pupils how digital systems work and how to create programs. Information technology lets them use this knowledge to make programs, systems, and digital content. Digital literacy helps pupils use technology confidently to express ideas, solve problems, and be ready for the digital world.

Birchwood has a 3 class sets of Chrome Books and a growing number of i-Pads across the school. Each device has internet access and all the relevant applications needed to teach computing in school.

Resources created by ‘Kapow Computing’ and ‘Kapow PSHE” are used to support the teaching of Computing and Online Safety at Birchwood.

In addition to the above, there is a variety of other computing equipment in school including micro:bits, BeeBots, Lego WeDo, microphones and Crumble Bot Robots. We recenty purchased a ‘Green Screen’ to enable pupils to bring to life work they have filmed across the whole curriculum.

Pupils at Birchwood have weekly Computing skills lessons. Teachers plan for opportunities to apply these skills within the Computing Curriculum and across other curriculum areas. For example, pupils in KS1 use bar charts to represent their plant growth, linked to their work in Science. Pupils in KS2 apply skills taught in the use of Google Education to create Documents, Slides and Forms which enables collaborative work with their peers.

Impact – What will it look like when we have achieved our intent?

We love celebrating and teaching all STEM subjects. Each year, during STEM Week, pupils and the school community take part in fun challenges that encourage teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and early project management skills. Some activities take place at Adastral Park and are led by computer scientists who inspire pupils to enjoy STEM and develop a passion for computing.