Close

Twitter Wall

28/03/24

A beautiful Easter service to celebrate the beginning of the Holy Week. Happy Easter everyone! pic.twitter.com/6yNXlbaBYD

28/03/24

pic.twitter.com/Fkhwk2MEW0

28/03/24

pic.twitter.com/X5KtbVZ1gJ

28/03/24

Harpenden Academy’s annual Easter Service. pic.twitter.com/DtU6ALNRi9

27/03/24

The latest of our super presentations on celebrating difference: this week’s topic is anxiety and low self esteem. Delighted that each presentation contained book recommendations too! pic.twitter.com/oajopp0n8q

27/03/24

The latest of our super presentations on celebrating difference: this week’s topic is anxiety and low self esteem. So proud of all the children who have researched and presented about neurodiversity and anxiety this term. pic.twitter.com/Cp86ZfqPKj

27/03/24

Ladybirds have been on an Easter egg hunt with a difference today - we had to read the words and find the pictures on our checklist. We had such fun! pic.twitter.com/RkeNT2k8jw

26/03/24

Year 4 exploring the local environment to find different living things. We will be back in 4 weeks to see how the habitat has changed. pic.twitter.com/hSjtcqzs0Y

26/03/24

Incredibly proud of this team. Excellent results today against St.Nicolas a win and a draw. Sadly not all the team is present but it has been wonderful to see all the team grow. pic.twitter.com/k4h7mPEHTn

22/03/24

Heart dissection with Mark the science man in Y6 this afternoon! 👩‍⚕️ 👨‍⚕️ pic.twitter.com/vnHOYIM6bb

22/03/24

Heart dissection with Mark the science man in Y6 this afternoon! 👩‍⚕️ 👨‍⚕️ pic.twitter.com/48pHdZ3fov

22/03/24

Thank you Mark the science Man for spending the afternoon in Year 4. We have learnt how to drawn circuits using symbols. pic.twitter.com/2vShKIowVu

22/03/24

The Eco council have created an eco code for our school 🪴🌿🌱 pic.twitter.com/tUTi8konmk

21/03/24

Having a blast with Bikeability, Year 6 have continued to smile their way through the week, learning to navigate traffic flowing through major and minor roads. We are incredibly proud of their attitude, maturity and progress! pic.twitter.com/4OFmmWf7Nm

21/03/24

Having a blast with Bikeability, Year 6 have continued to smile their way through the week, learning to navigate traffic flowing through major and minor roads. We are incredibly proud of their attitude, maturity and progress! pic.twitter.com/DMQUWxXJzl

21/03/24

Having a blast with Bikeability, Year 6 have continued to smile their way through the week, learning to navigate traffic flowing through major and minor roads. We are incredibly proud of their attitude, maturity and progress! pic.twitter.com/Gq44AiqXyT

21/03/24

Having a blast with Bikeability, Year 6 have continued to smile their way through the week, learning to navigate traffic flowing through major and minor roads. We are incredibly proud of their attitude, maturity and progress! pic.twitter.com/tcKBY2roFe

21/03/24

This morning, Reception have been playing a maths game “7 or not 7?” with their partner. They represented their number using their fingers and used their super subitising skills to identify the number their friend was showing. pic.twitter.com/n6KkjFvYOP

21/03/24

Year 3 spent the morning in a workshop run by on Volcanoes. We loved looking at real artefacts and samples. pic.twitter.com/fQ7ywwI8Gl

21/03/24

Our talented musicians performing in their end of term concert with pic.twitter.com/6qyWQ8DgWW

20/03/24

Well done to our netball team. So much resilience shown and it has been a pleasure to see you grow. pic.twitter.com/tzxHKF7mY6

20/03/24

Ready for the concert! pic.twitter.com/akEegWB1sl

20/03/24

Enjoying being at Voices in a Million! pic.twitter.com/hnrgLO9TQp

20/03/24

Year six presentations on neurodiversity - so proud of these children for preparing and presenting completely independently to increase awareness and empathy in our class. pic.twitter.com/vx6W4lW1L4

20/03/24

Miss Alshamari taking the wonderful Team Dahl to do some riddle writing in the library!#English pic.twitter.com/fh9XjEungU

Back to Subjects Menu

Computing

Purpose and Aims

Purpose

To equip pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science, and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. At Harpenden Academy we use computing across the curriculum to embed these skills.. At Harpenden Academy our key concepts that we teach the children are eSafety, digital literacy, computational thinking, programming and data representation. 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 at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world. We use the education for a connected world document to ensure that the children are taught all areas of e-safety at a suitable age appropriate level. Each Rising Stars unit begins with a e-safety lesson which links to their learning.

Aims

  • Can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
  • Can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
  • Can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
  • Are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.

Provision

We follow the Rising Stars switched on curriculum throughout school. Our curriculum is categorised in 2 ways:

  • Breadth - which gives pupils experiences of a range of computing experiences covering programming, computational thinking, creativity, computer networks and productivity.
  • Depth - which helps pupils to think and act like effective coders and users of technology and makers who carry out research, ask questions, work constructively and independently.

Whilst coverage is our goal for the “breadth” element, repetition and increasing the understanding is our goal for the “depth” element.

Our curriculum drivers shape our approach to teaching computing so that every opportunity is taken to relate the needs of our pupils. Computing is studied throughout each academic year and across each key stage so that pupils can gain a growing developmental understanding of the coding, communicating, connecting and collecting in our curriculum. Coherent contexts for learning engage and involve pupil.

Progression and Assessment

Although we follow Rising Stars Switched on Computing scheme we adapt out our teaching and expectations to work alongside the Chris Quigley Essentials “mile stones” approach. It is expected that the vast majority of pupils will have an advancing understanding by the end of the unit and some will have a deep understanding.

Assessment and reporting

We will assess the pupil’s depth of understanding each term and use this to forecast as to whether pupils are on track to meet our curriculum expectations for the end of the milestone.

Monitoring, evaluation and improvement

The role of the leader in monitoring pupil’s outcomes is to audit teacher’s judgements. This is done collectively in staff meetings and then collated by the leader. The leader then works collectively with the teachers to examine the strengths of the provision along with the areas for development for the provision. The leaders then create an action plan to improve achievement. The leader keeps track of the improvements they have secured over time to understand how effect the provision is.

See below the progression of our whole school scheme of work following the Rising Stars curriculum:

Unit

Title

Unit Summary

Computing Programme

of Study focus

Year 1 – Autumn 1

We are treasure hunters

Using programmable toys

Programming

Year 1 – Autumn 2

We are TV chefs

Filming the steps of a recipe

Computational thinking

Year 1 – Spring 1

We are painters

Illustrating an eBook

Creativity

Year 1 – Spring 2

We are collectors

Finding images using the web

Computer networks

Year 1 – Summer 1

We are storytellers

Producing a talking book

Communication/Collaboration

Year 1 – Summer 2

We are celebrating

Creating a card electronically

Productivity

Year 2 – Autumn 1

We are astronauts

Programming on screen

Programming

Year 2 – Autumn 2

We are game testers

Exploring how computer games work

Computational thinking

Year 2 – Spring 1

We are photographers

Taking, selecting and editing digital images

Creativity

Year 2 – Spring 2

We are researchers

Researching a topic

Computer networks

Year 2 – Summer 1

We are detectives

Communicating clues

Communication/Collaboration

Year 2 – Summer 2

We are zoologists

Recording bug hunt data

Productivity

Year 3 – Autumn 1

We are programmers

Programming an animation

Programming

Year 3 – Autumn 2

We are bug fixers

Finding and correcting bugs in programs

Computational thinking

Year 3 – Spring 1

We are presenters

Videoing performance

Creativity

Year 3 – Spring 2

We are vloggers

Making and sharing a short screen cast presentation

Computer networks

Year 3 – Summer 1

We are communicators

Communicating safely on the internet

Communication/Collaboration

Year 3 – Summer 2

We are opinion pollsters

Collecting and analysing data

Productivity

Year 4 – Autumn 1

We are software developers

Developing a simple educational game

Programming

Year 4 – Autumn 2

We are toy designers

Prototyping an interactive toy

Computational thinking

Year 4 – Spring 1

We are musicians

Producing digital music

Creativity

Year 4 – Spring 2

We are HTML editors

Editing and Writing HTML

Computer networks

Year 4 – Summer 1

We are co-authors

Producing a wiki

Communication/Collaboration

Year 4 – Summer 2

We are meteorologists

Presenting the weather

Productivity

Year 5 – Autumn 1

We are game developers

Developing an interactive game

Programming

Year 5 – Autumn 2

We are cryptographers

Cracking codes

Computational thinking

Year 5 – Spring 1

We are artists

Fusing geometry and art

Creativity

Year 5 – Spring 2

We are web developers

Creating a web page about cyber safety

Computer networks

Year 5 – Summer 1

We are bloggers

Sharing experiences and opinions

Communication/Collaboration

Year 5 – Summer 2

We are architects

Creating a virtual space

Productivity

Year 6 – Autumn 1

We are adventure gamers

Making a text-based adventure game

Programming

Year 6 – Autumn 2

We are computational thinkers

Mastering algorithms for searching, sorting and mathematics

Computational thinking

Year 6 – Spring 1

We are advertisers

Creating a short television advert

Creativity

Year 6 – Spring 2

We are network engineers

Exploring computer networks including the internet

Computer networks

Year 6 – Summer 1

We are travel writers

Using media and mapping to document a trip

Productivity

Year 6 – Summer 2

We are publishers

Creating a year book

Communication/collaboration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 1 Elmer Class, Algorithms for our Robots

We loved being computer scientists in Elmer class today. We programmed our robots to follow our algorithms. When the robots didn't do quite what we thought they would we debugged and tried again!

Year 3

Elmer Class, Tate Modern Paint

The highlight of the week has been seeing the children access a new resource release by the Tate Modern which helped us with our Computing learning https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/games-quizzes/tate-paint Using this, the children experimented with the different 'paint' techniques to create an effective picture of a character/setting from a book. 

Elmer

 

Dahl class using Powerpoint to create presentations

In Dahl class we have presented our own improvements for Harpenden, we have worked really hard! Our class voted and the winning improvements were for a splash park in Rothamstead and a nature reserve with bird hides on the common.

Dahl 2Elmer Class video skills 

Elmer class have been developing their videoing skills. Today we pretended to be TV chefs and film our new cooking show. The children really enjoyed being in front of and behind the camera. In a few weeks we will become TV chefs for real!

Elmer 3

Potter class in a pickle! 

Potter class are all in a pickle! In Computing we have been learning how to debug a program to make a pizza. We showed a lot of perseverance and had a lot of fun!

Potter

Dahl class cracking codes 

Yesterday, Dahl class enjoyed using semaphore to send secret messages to their friends,we found it quite tricky!

Dahl

Esafety lesson in Elmer class 

Elmer enjoyed their eSafety lesson learning about keeping their personal information safe. We used the 'Kim and Lee' video to stimulate our discussion. The children then created their own comic strips. Well done Y1-you are very responsible online users!

Elmer 2

Elmer being TV chefs 

Elmer have been learning about how to use an internet search to find images. Today we searched for TV chefs, recipes and food linked with our new unit 'We are TV chefs'. We also started to think about how the camera is used during filming of a TV show.

Elmer

Coding in Elmer Class, Year 1

In Computing this week, Year 1 Elmer Class have been writing and testing our algorithms. We used simple code to predict where we thought the Beebot would go. We then de-bugged our algorithms.

Beebot

Cyber Bullying

Amazingly informative and creative cyber bullying home learning in Year 6

Cyber bullying

Creative Friday, Animation

We love Creative Friday! The children have been using the iMotion app to create short animations. We were inspired by Morph (for those of you old enough to remember!)

Creative Friday

 

Year 2 Databases

Img 0331 Img 0332 Img 0333

Year 5 Scratch

Img 0225 Img 0226 Img 0227

Img 0228 Img 0229 Img 0230

Img 0351 Img 0352 Img 0353

Img 0660 Img 0661 Img 0662

Img 0663

Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×