Gilbert Colvin Primary School

At Gilbert Colvin we recognise that the world we live in is becoming increasingly digital. Because of this, we know that we need to equip our children with the skills they need to thrive in this technological age. Computing lessons are a key part of this.

Our computing education is broad and progressive, allowing our pupils to build on skills learnt in previous years and develop a thorough understanding of computers and the part they play in the wider world. In addition to this, online safety is embedded throughout our school curriculum, allowing our pupils to become resilient and safe when using the internet.

We aim to develop our children’s understanding of computing by covering the following key areas. Through this, our pupils begin to understand the use and application of these skills in the real world

• Computer science; using computational thinking to solve problems and creating things for different purposes. This involves creating algorithms which control simple characters, games and websites, or debugging to correct mistakes in their own and others’ programs.
• Digital literacy; teaching the children to use a range of technology in a safe and responsible way.
• Information technology; ensuring that pupils understand how the devices they use function and have knowledge of the digital world.

Through these lessons, our pupils are also exposed to a variety of programmes and equipment, allowing them to develop vital IT skills which they can apply to a range of real life problems.

What our children think about Computing at Gilbert Colvin Primary School:

“We get to use lots of exciting programs and equipment. I like seeing the instructions I give the Lego robot happen in real life!”
“I enjoyed the bee-bot game because we had to make a maze for the bee bot to move in. I also liked to make the instructions for the bee bot.”	“I liked using Scratch because we made our own sprites and we controlled them by moving them to different planets.”