Computing

At Elm Academy our aim is to provide an aspirational and innovative computing education which will equip our pupils to harness technology in a safe, purposeful and creative way. We believe computing to be a practical subject, in which invention and resourcefulness are encouraged. The ideas of computing are applied to understanding real-world systems and creating purposeful products. This combination of principles, practice and invention makes computing an extraordinarily useful and creative subject. Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this. We are proud to be able to offer the pupils a range of technology to develop their skills on including; desktop PCs, tablets, laptops, Bee-Bots and more.

We encourage pupils to apply the skills they learn during their computing lessons to other situations. For example, researching information as part of their writing lessons. We also encourage pupils to use our online subscriptions to learning resources such as TimesTable Rockstars, Oxford Owl and Reading Plus which develop their computing skills in meaningful and purposeful ways.

We believe that it is imperative that all of our key stakeholders are aware of the benefits and risks of the internet and how to safeguard themselves in this area. To prepare our children for an ever-changing digital world, we undertake e-Safety workshops, participate in Safer Internet Day and take part in statutory RSE lessons surrounding computing and e-safety.

Our children are taught the Lock it, Block it, Show it, Tell it slogan to support their continuously developing understanding of E-Safety.

Each Year 6 class has a Computing Champion who run a Coding Club each half term to develop their leadership and independence skills and to support pupils who would like further guidance with coding.