computing

If there is one certain thing in life, it is that everything changes. The pace of change in the last decade has filled society with both hope and fear. We cannot teach our children how to use the technology of the future, because they will invent it. What we can teach through ICT is the resilience, creativity and communication skills needed to not only navigate a changing world but also to participate in the decisions of its creation.

Computing and technology teaches children to be creative and not just in the use of digital technology that is used in the creative arts. Through the subject, children will learn to solve a problems in new and inventive ways. They will learn to recognise that there is not just one approach or use for a technology and that what they imagine they can invent.

Today, our children are immersed in a digital culture and to flourish in this environment they will need to develop excellent communication skills. Through the subject they will learn to communicate appropriately; expressing ideas eloquently and concepts clearly. Coding will support the development of logical argument and by working with digital publishing technology our children will become confident in written and oral communication.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes technology fails? That moment when something does not work can create in us a moment of despair or anger. When a problem arises our children will be able to stop, evaluate, think, plan and do. Through ICT, our children will learn the resilience to move forward past those moments. They will acquire the fortitude to persevere with a task knowing the satisfaction of a completed task. Our children will become able to shrug off setbacks and try again.

By participating in the use of ICT teaching throughout the school our children will become confident citizens of the brave new world they will help to create.

At Harnham Junior School all children have the opportunity to engage with high quality ICT lessons based round four key concepts of code, connect, communicate and collect.

Through experience with a variety of coding languages, children will be able to sequence actions that control movement and appearance to create programs that control appearance and movement of on screen objects and allow for logic gate responses to stimuli.

We will use a variety of desktop publishing tools to create and publish presentations to communicate with an audience in both the school and those beyond using blogs, oral presentation and published work and contribute to the application of literacy skills.

By engaging with recording devices and spreadsheets, children will be able to collect information and create databases. They will have the opportunity to analyse, interpret this information asking further questions, and develop a greater understanding of the world around them.

We will support our children’s ability to connect with the digital world through consistent messages about safe use of the internet and appropriate language. Using ongoing teacher support they will appreciate the importance of copyright in a digital age.

By participating in the use of ICT teaching throughout their time at Harnham Junior School our children will become confident digital citizens. They will be able to create code in different languages that will be able to perform simple tasks. Our children will be confident in using a range of digital publishing tools to eloquently and clearly communicate ideas. They will also be able to choose the best method to collect and analyse information to answer questions and solve problems. Finally, at the end of their time at Harnham Junior School, our pupils will respect the rights of other digital citizens by using appropriate language, knowing that every digital citizen is a real person; be able to use the internet in a safe manner and be able to express the right of individuals to have their work recognised and to be used only with permission.