Subject Leader: Mr O. Cross

At Our Lady & St Gerard’s we aim to offer a broad and balanced curriculum that prepares pupils to ‘use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world’.  We have a puropose-built computer suite (which opened in 2019) for teachers to deliver discrete computing sessions and we also benefit from a class-set of laptops and a number of Sufaces and Notebooks to use, in classes, across the curriculum, so that we can provide:

“A progressive curriculum that is flexible, relevant and engages pupils’ interest; that is used to promote Online-Safety through teaching pupils how to stay safe, how to protect themselves from harm and how to take responsibility for their own and others’ safety.”

There are three aspects of the computing curriculum: computer science (CS), information technology (IT) and digital literacy (DL).

The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content.  Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate – they are able to use, express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future work place and as active participants in a digital world. (Computing in the National Curriculum – Naace)

The Online-Safety strand is to be taught across the whole year, incorporated into all our work.  Our pupils will recognise the importance of this area of computing, with special Online-Safety days.  The children can see the importance of this area of learning, by the displays in classrooms and corridors, each identifiable by the same warning sign.

For more information on online-safety you can visit our online-safety page for parents.

As a school, we use a range of strategies and resources to deliver our computing curriculum, including subscriptions to Purple Mash and Busy Things; allowing and encouraging our children to continue to develop their skills and learning at home. 

Computing Facilities

We are thrilled to be able to be using our Computing Suite once again.

After adjusting to the new COVID-safe procedures in our classrooms, corridors and playgrounds,  we have carefully considered and adjusted the way in which our suite is used so that we can continue to provide the children with quality computing teaching using devices as well as unplugged activities.

Our Lady & St Gerard's is fortunate to have a fully-equipped computing suite, as well as a lap-top trolley, and fifteen Microsoft Surfaces for use across the whole school. We have programmable toys for each key stage and access to hundreds of programs and apps across the internet, that help us to provide a creative, fun, engaging curriculum for all our pupils. 

A continued subscription to Busy Things for our foundation pupils, and a more recent subscription to Purple Mash for KS1 and KS2, provides us with even greater resources to ensure access to all areas of the new curriculum.  Both of these websites will be available for the pupils to login and use at home to extend their learning further and to use it to complete homework tasks. 

Happy Computing!

Age-specific apps for children

Interactive apps and games for smartphones and tablets that parents and children can enjoy together are a great way to relax. From pure entertainment to educational and competitive experiences here are the top 10 apps to keep you and your kids happy all summer.

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