Computing skills are rapidly developing and required in the modern world, and it is important to St Thomas’ that our children have fun, are engaged and go forward with an understanding of how to safely consume and produce technology in everyday life. We strive to ensure children can use appropriate resources safely and develop creativity, problem solving, logical thinking and practical skills in using a range of technologies. ​​​

Throughout the years, children will learn and progress in their skills, with appropriate challenges and cross-curricular links to their respective learning journeys. The Computing Curriculum follows Teach Computing and is coherently planned and sequenced to include thinking about how computing systems work, how they are designed and how they are programmed. We do this practically, encouraging invention and initiative. Additionally, we teach about safe information retrieval and storage, producing and presenting work using various programs (such as those used for word processing, coding, movie making etc.), self-evaluating what they have produced, and exchanging information in a safe manner.

E-Safety is taught at the beginning of each topic, and is also the focus of some whole-school assemblies throughout the year and on days such as Safer Internet Day or Coding Week.

Computing in Action 23-24 

Year 6

We were working on a computer program called TynkerCad at Sevenoaks School. We used this to create images, which can then be brought to life using a 3D printer. We have been given a challenge to create a battle bot!

Year 5

Year 5 have been making their own digital catalogue system and database charts.

Year 3

In our computing work we went on a hunt around the school to find all of the devices which connect to our school network. We learnt about the importance of a switch, a server and wireless access points. We demonstrated how the network connects the components with string in the classroom and discussed how useful it is to be able to share work, before trying out the real network on our school laptops.

Block coding using Scratch

Year 2

Linking Computing to their grammar work of writing exclamations using "What...!", "That...!" and "How...!". Using Word, the children carefully typed out some exclamations and also some questions, remembering to use the correct punctuation.

Year 1

In Computing we looked at Pointillist artwork by Georges Seurat. The children created sunflower digital art using a Pointillism style. They used the paintbrush tool to draw dots of different colours and the spraypaint tool to cover larger areas.

The children have worked enthusiastically with our beebot robots in Computing. They are able to programme instructions into the beebot to make it move across a mat to a selected picture. Well done Year 1 for working really well in a group, taking turns and supporting each other.

Computing in Action 22-23