At St. Matthew's we understand the importance of teaching Computing, as it helps to embed the basic skills used in the children’s future lives. Now more than ever, with the widespread use of technology in the home and workplace, it is important that our children can grow with the knowledge and skills to use it confidently. Teaching Computing at primary level is a great foundation to grow from, especially as technology gets more advanced; we need the people with the right skills to use it and fix it when it goes wrong.

All year groups focus on ‘Online safety’ to begin the academic year. This ensures all children have an understanding and awareness of how to stay safe online. We also cover the main points of researching safely, so children are able to use technology confidently in other subjects. As well as ‘online safety’, children will complete a unit where they learn about ‘coding’. Each year they will build on their knowledge of coding, so by Year 6, they can code an interactive computer game. Other skills covered include- using google apps to produce pieces of work; touch type (to improve speed); animation; and how to input data onto spreadsheets.

At St Matthew’s, we are lucky enough to have a range of technology ready to be in our Computing lessons, as well as being available for other all subjects. We have:

·      Chrome books

·      Laptops

·      Green screens

·      I Pads

·      VR Head-sets

·      Coding robots

If you are interested in finding our more about online safety, please follow the links below:

https://www.childnet.com/

https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

https://www.bbc.com/ownit

https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/get-urgent-help/youngminds-crisis-messenger/

We also offer a parent’s workshop (dates to be confirmed) by inviting in external speakers from Child Net to share their knowledge and resources.