Computing

“Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.” Steven Hawking.

What is Computing?

In computing, pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, how to use them and how to use this knowledge.

Computing at Cockton Hill Junior School:

Computing at Cockton Hill Junior School focuses on three strands: computer science, information technology and digital literacy.

Computer Science covers the ‘how’. How computers and computer systems work and how they are designed and programmed. Computer Science includes understanding how a school network and the internet works. Information Technology is the application of Computing. Ensuring pupils can use a wide range of products and software to enable them to plan, develop and create. These should cover a variety of media such as video, audio, art, photography or music. Digital Literacy is about the understanding and implications and why you are choosing to use something for a particular purpose. This strand also covers Online Safety, knowing how to use the internet safely, respectfully and responsibly.

Here you will find our Computing curriculum overview as well as unit overviews. These show the key knowledge and skills for each unit as well as some questions you can ask your child at home.

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Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Our curriculum in action

Year 3 - Computing systems and networks - Improving mouse skills

Year 3 started their computing journey in Cockton Hill Junior School with the basics of logging on, saving work and using the internet to navigate to a website. The children were introduced to an online program ‘Sketchpad’ where they were able to improve their mouse skills to select objects, resize them and position them on screen.

Year 4 - Computing systems and networks - Collaborative learning

This term, Year 4 learnt how to log on to Microsoft 365 accounts. Once there, they worked collaboratively to see how documents can be changed and edited by multiple users in real time. They were able to share documents with others and create and share a digital survey, formatting a spreadsheet to show their findings.

Year 5 - Computing systems and networks - Search engines

In this unit of work, Year 5 learnt all about search engines. They were surprised to find that different search engines gave different results and that some are more private than others. They found out the importance of the key words chosen when searching and that facts need to be checked on different sites as not everything they read online is true. They learnt about copyright and used images along with facts they had found to create a poster about Space.

Year 6 - Computing systems and networks - Bletchley Park

Year 6 learnt all about ciphers and secret codes. They found some techniques for deciphering and found out that brute force hacking uses a trial and error approach to try to access private information. They learnt about the first electronic computer that was built to help crack codes during WWII and some of the important historical figures in Computing.