Computing at St Ignatius

Subject Vision Statement

At St Ignatius, we recognise the increasingly important role that technology is playing in people’s lives and we are working to provide all children with a fundamental understanding of how to effectively use and create technology across the curriculum. We believe children should leave Key Stage 2 with sound digital literacy across a range of device types so they are prepared to use technology efficiently at secondary school and beyond. We promote computer science as a valuable skill and strive to improve children’s awareness of the sometimes hidden figures behind the computing revolutions that have changed the way we live, work and play. We want to prepare children for jobs that do not currently exist by embedding core principles of programming and computer science into our curriculum, encouraging children to practise skills independently at home and to experiment with code to see what they can achieve.

Software

By the end of KS2, our children are confident users of digital technology. They learn how to use desktop applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel; they are confident in creating folders, saving, copying and accessing their files, and can use the World Wide Web safely and efficiently.

We use a variety of applications to teach computer science, starting with Turtle Academy in Year 2. In Years 3-5, children use Scratch to start developing their own games and applications, and in Year 6, we use Trinket to teach the basics of Python and HTML.

These applications are all available in-browser, at the following links:

Turtle Academy

Scratch

Trinket

Hardware

Our Computer Lab has recently been equipped with 16 state-of-the-art desktop PCs for use in Computing lessons. We also have a range of mobile devices such as Chromebooks, iPods and Surface tablets.