Computing at Harper Bell
At Harper Bell SDA Primary School, our Computing curriculum equips pupils with the knowledge, skills and confidence to understand, use and shape the digital world around them.
Technology is an increasingly important part of children's education, relationships, future employment and everyday life. We therefore want pupils to leave Harper Bell as confident, creative, discerning and responsible users of technology: children who can solve problems, communicate ideas, create digital content and make informed choices while understanding how to keep themselves and others safe.
Our curriculum is based on Kapow Primary Computing and is carefully adapted through the Harper Bell long-term plan and skills progression so that learning is deliberately sequenced from Reception to Year 6. It develops the three interconnected areas of Computer Science, Information Technology and Digital Literacy through five core strands: programming; computing systems and networks; creating media; data handling; and online safety. Computing Approach
Building knowledge over time
Computing is taught as a progressive body of knowledge rather than a collection of isolated activities. Key concepts are revisited with increasing depth so that pupils retrieve previous learning, strengthen important knowledge and apply it in increasingly sophisticated contexts. Teachers use the curriculum progression and vocabulary to identify what pupils already know, explicitly model new learning and then move pupils towards purposeful independent application. Computing Approach
This reflects our wider Harper Bell approach to teaching and learning: clear explanation, explicit modelling, carefully scaffolded practice, checking for understanding, retrieval and increasing independence. In Computing, this means pupils do not simply learn how to operate particular software. They learn the underlying concepts that enable them to transfer their knowledge to unfamiliar technology.
From Reception, pupils explore hardware, follow and give instructions, programme simple devices and begin to represent data. As they move through school, this develops into algorithms, debugging, networks, digital media, databases and spreadsheets. By upper Key Stage 2, pupils work with increasingly complex Scratch programming, BBC micro:bits, text-based Python, digital security and machine learning. Computing Skills Progression
Online safety: safeguarding in a digital world
Online safety is a fundamental part of our safeguarding curriculum. It is not treated as a one-off topic or restricted to Computing lessons.
Two dedicated online-safety sessions are taught at the beginning of every term, with safe and responsible use reinforced throughout Computing and the wider curriculum. Computing Approach The long-term plan therefore deliberately returns pupils to online safety throughout every year group rather than leaving it until a single annual event. Computing Curriculum LTP
The curriculum develops appropriately as children mature. Younger pupils learn about safe device use, personal information and asking a trusted adult for help. As pupils progress, they explore passwords, online communication, unsuitable contact, reliability of online information and reporting concerns. Older pupils consider privacy, digital identity, security, social media and the choices involved in interacting online. Computing Skills Progression
By Year 6, pupils are expected to understand how online content can be shared and viewed, recognise a range of online risks, consider how an online identity can be shaped through posts and interactions and use tools such as block, mute and report appropriately. Computing Skills Progression
Our aim is therefore not simply to tell pupils what not to do online. We teach them to become informed digital citizens who can recognise risk, evaluate information, make sensible decisions and know where to seek help.
Preparing pupils for a changing future
Our Computing curriculum deliberately looks beyond the technology children use today.
Pupils learn increasingly sophisticated computational thinking through decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, algorithms, logical reasoning and debugging. In programming, their journey progresses from simple directional commands and Bee-Bots through Scratch and MakeCode to variables, conditionals, nested loops, micro:bits and Python. Computing Skills Progression
Alongside this, pupils learn to create rather than simply consume digital content. They work with images, video, animation, websites, podcasts and multimedia, making purposeful choices for different audiences and evaluating how effectively their work communicates. Computing Skills Progression
By Year 6, pupils are also introduced to machine learning and artificial intelligence. They learn that machine-learning systems learn from data, that the quality or nature of training data can affect outcomes, and that emerging technologies bring both benefits and potential limitations or risks. Computing Skills Progression
This is an important part of our commitment to preparing pupils for the future: children need not only technical competence but also the ability to question, evaluate and make responsible decisions about technology.
Computing across the school
Our curriculum develops through distinct but interconnected strands:
- Programming and computational thinking - creating algorithms and programs, predicting outcomes, testing, debugging and progressively solving more complex problems.
- Computing systems and networks - understanding hardware, software, connected devices, networks, the internet, search technologies, storage and security.
- Creating media - selecting and using digital tools to create, edit and evaluate text, images, audio, video, animation and multimedia.
- Data and information - collecting, organising, representing, analysing and interpreting information, developing from simple pictograms to databases, spreadsheets, formulas and charts.
- Digital literacy and online safety - using technology safely, respectfully, critically and responsibly, protecting information and knowing how to recognise and report concerns. Computing Approach
Inclusion and high expectations
Computing at Harper Bell is inclusive by design. We maintain ambitious outcomes for all pupils while adapting the route through which pupils reach them.
Teachers use explicit modelling, visual scaffolds, carefully sequenced instructions and practical rehearsal. Pupils with SEND or those who are new to English may receive pre-teaching of key vocabulary, reduced-step instructions, paired practice and appropriate adaptations to devices or software. These adaptations are designed to remove barriers while continuing to develop independence and maintain high expectations. Computing Approach
Assessment and impact
Assessment in Computing focuses on what pupils know, understand and can apply.
Teachers use questioning, observation, practical tasks and pupils' digital outcomes to check understanding throughout learning. Assessment considers both technical competence and pupils' ability to explain their thinking, select appropriate tools and apply their knowledge independently. End-of-unit outcomes are then used to identify misconceptions and inform future teaching and retrieval.
