Computing

What does Computing look like at our school? (implementation)

At Horley Infant School we use a variety of hardware throughout the school to develop the children’s IT and programming skills. We have 40 laptops so the children can learn to use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content. We use a platform called Purple Mash which helps them develop typing and word processing skills.

In Reception they first learn about programming using code-a-pillars, in Year One they use Beebots and in Year Two they use BlueBots where the device is programmed remotely. In Years 1 and 2, the children use laptops to access Coding in Purple Mash to understand what an algorithm is, to design algorithms and then code them and to know what debugging is and debug different programs.

Throughout their time at Horley Infant School, all children learn the importance of keeping themselves safe while online. In Reception they learn how to look after technology respectfully and what to do if they see something online that makes them feel uncomfortable. In Years One and Two they learn the importance of keeping their private information such as name, school, address and passwords private. They learn that talking online to someone is not the same as talking to a friend. They about cyber bullying and which games are appropriate to play (by understanding PEGi ratings).

Technology is used throughout the curriculum to support learning in other subjects such as Art (drawing pictures), History (watching videos and playing games to learn about the Great Fire of London), Geography (using Maps online), Science (completing fact files about animals or materials) and Music (creating music digitally).