At Christ Church, Computing equips children to understand, use and shape the digital world with confidence, creativity and responsibility. Through a carefully sequenced curriculum, pupils begin in Reception with playful computational thinking, problem-solving and purposeful use of technology before developing increasingly secure knowledge of digital systems, programming, media, data, networks, artificial intelligence and digital citizenship through to Year 6.

Our Computing curriculum is designed around ideas that are revisited and deepened over time. In Reception, Barefoot Computing develops logic, pattern, abstraction, algorithms and decomposition through practical play, talk and exploration. From Year 1 onwards, Digital Sparks builds these foundations through Digital Foundations, Computer Systems and Networks, Digital Citizenship, Programming and Physical Computing, Creating Media, Data and Information, and Artificial Intelligence.

Computing at Christ Church also supports our school vision: "Together, we flourish." Children are encouraged to be curious about how technology works, perseverance when testing and debugging, respectful and kind in digital spaces, hopeful and confident when tackling new challenges, and aware of the importance of collaboration and community in the connected world.

Our Four Key Computing Schemas

To help pupils make meaningful connections across year groups and computing contexts, our Computing curriculum is organised around four key schemas. These act as threads through the curriculum; the original Digital Sparks areas remain visible underneath each schema so that staff can see clearly how the progression map connects to the taught units.

Working Like Computer Scientists

Alongside these four schemas, pupils develop the disciplinary and procedural knowledge needed to think and work like computer scientists. They decompose problems, spot patterns, identify what is important, design algorithms, predict outcomes, test and debug, collect and analyse data, select appropriate digital tools, evaluate solutions and explain their reasoning. They learn that computing involves careful thinking as well as using devices.

As children progress through Christ Church, they become increasingly independent in choosing tools, creating programs and digital content, understanding systems and networks, and making informed decisions online. By the end of Year 6, our aim is for pupils to leave Christ Church able to solve problems computationally, use technology fluently, create with purpose, understand key digital systems and engage with data, AI and online information critically and responsibly.