Rationale

Rationale for the Computing Curriculum at Wick CE Primary

During their time at Wick CE Primary all children will learn how to use a wide range of computing technology. Children will have the opportunity to become safe, respectable digital citizens, and be confident selecting appropriate computing technology for a wide variety of uses in the outside world.

We aim to encourage children to become computer literate, enabling them to fulfil their potential in an increasingly computer-dominated world. Learning key transferable computing skills such as typing, research, coding and data handling concepts, will enable them to adapt in an ever changing and technology rich environment.

Aims

• To ensure that the school has a wide range of flexible resources to support learning and teaching of computing skills and across the curriculum
• To improve children’s capability in the use of Computers
• To extend and enhance learning across the curriculum
• To enable children and staff to select and use computing technology appropriately and efficiently and apply their use across a range of subject areas
• To ensure continuity and progression throughout the primary phase and towards secondary education
• To deliver the programmes of study for Computing
• To enable the children to appreciate the importance of computing technology in their lives and some of the purposes for which it can be used
• To reduce staff workload through use of ICT to support management and administration
• Promote e-safety awareness amongst pupils and parents

Digital Parenting & Online Safety

The page below gives details about some of the best websites and apps that help to develop online safety.

Support, sites and apps for parents:

Parent Zone (https://parentzone.org.uk/parents)

• Online training
• Expert advice and information on all things digital
• Access to a free help service for all your tech questions

Parental controls

Common sense media has a superb “ultimate guide to parental controls” here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/parents-ultimate-guide-to-parental-controls

Google Family Link app (https://families.google.com/intl/en_uk/familylink/)

Google’s Family Link app lets you set digital ground rules to help guide your children/teens as they learn, play, and explore online. You are able to:

• view their activity
• manage their apps
• direct then to teacher recommended apps
• set limits on screen time
• lock their device
• see where they are

The app can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple Store.

Ultimate guides to social media

Common sense media has some superb “ultimate guides” to all the common social media platforms that young people use today. These can be found here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/parents-ultimate-guides

Safety and Privacy settings for social media apps

The link below takes you to information on how you can adjust the “safety and privacy settings” in some of the most popular social media apps (Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook, Twitter) to help keep children safe online:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/digital-parenting/safety-settings

Parent Info (https://parentinfo.org/)

Parent Info is a collaboration between Parent Zone and NCA-CEOP, providing support and guidance for parents from leading experts and organisations, covering everything from online safety to body image.

There is also a link to Parent Info and all the latest articles on the school website under the “Wellbeing” tab.

Digital Parenting Magazine from Vodafone (https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/digital-parenting/archive)

This Digital Parenting Magazine covers a range of topics from cyberbullying and parental controls to gaming and peer pressure. The archive of magazines can be found at the link above.

Building a positive digital footprint

Five steps towards a healthy digital footprint:

1.    Check their online presence regularly - Type your child’s name into a search engine. See what comes up.

2.    Consider who and what they like and follow - The social media accounts they follow or like say a lot about them.

3.   Nurture their creativity - Many platforms are a great way to showcase your child’s talents (eg Creating blogs/vlogs/videos)

4.  Show off their achievements - Having an online presence can be a great way for your children to keep a record of their achievements.

5.  Be aware before they share - It is really important not to share contact details or post anything online that tells people where your child lives, goes to school or hangs out.

For further information on how to build a positive digital footprint, visit this page: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/digital-parenting/digital-footprint

Support, sites and apps for girls:

BBC Own it app (https://www.bbc.com/ownit)

This app for smartphones, which features a special keyboard, combines machine-learning technology with the ability to keep a diary of a child’s emotions and allow them the chance to record how they are feeling and why. In response, the app can offer help and support, giving advice if their behaviour strays outside safe and sensible norms. Children can access the app at any time to get instant, on-screen advice and support the moment they need it.

The BBC Own It special keyboard will appear wherever a keyboard would surface normally - and offers real-time, in-the-moment help and advice on whatever a child is typing, for example if a child is typing something which might be upsetting to the person receiving it. It can also recognise if a child types personal details and reminds them to think twice about whether it is safe to share. It can even recognise language that might suggest a child is in trouble and will offer them advice and encourage them to talk to a trusted adult.

For more detailed information on how it works head here: https://www.bbc.com/ownit/about-us/own-it-app-parents-view

Where can girls get help and advice?

There are many charities and helplines where girls can get advice and support. The BBC Own It website has links to many of these organisations in one place: https://www.bbc.com/ownit/curations/places-get-help-and-advice

Dove Self Esteem Project:

https://www.dove.com/uk/dove-self-esteem-project/help-for-parents.html

List of useful sites:

Childnet.com

Vodafone.com

Thinkuknow.co.uk (CEOP – excellent age appropriate videos)

Saferinterent.org.uk

Commonsense.org

Parentinfo.org

Parentzone.org.uk

https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/en_us/interland