The national curriculum for computing aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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.

KS1

Pupils should be taught to:

• use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content
• recognise common uses of information technology beyond school
• use technology safely and respectfully, keeping personal information private; identify where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet or other online technologies.

KS2

Pupils should be taught to:

• use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
• select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information

Year 1 

Pictograms and Spreadsheets

Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.

Children are able to sort, collate, edit and store simple digital content e.g. children can name, save and retrieve their work and follow simple instructions to access online resources use Purple Mash using pictogram software such as 2Count.

Year 2

Spreadsheets

Use technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content.

Children demonstrate an ability to organise data using, for example, a database such as 2Investigate and can retrieve specific data for conducting simple searches.  Children are confident when creating, naming, saving and retrieving content. 

Year 3

Spreadsheets and Graphing

Select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.

Children can collect, analyse, evaluate and present data and information using a selection of software, e.g.  using software such as 2Graph. Children can consider what software is most appropriate for a given task. 

Year 4

Spreadsheets

Select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.

Children are able to make improvements to digital solutions based on feedback. Children make informed software choices when presenting information and data. 

Year 6

Spreadsheets

Design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts.

Children are able to turn a more complex programming task into an algorithm by identifying the important aspects of the task (abstraction) and then decomposing them in a logical way using their knowledge of possible coding structures and applying skills from previous programs. Children test and debug their program as they go and use logical methods to identify the cause of bugs, demonstrating a systematic approach to try to identify a particular line of code causing a problem.

Use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs.

Children are able to interpret a program in parts and can make logical attempts to put the separate parts of a complex algorithm together to explain the program as a whole.

Select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.

Children make clear connections to the audience when designing and creating digital content. They are able to use criteria to evaluate the quality of digital solutions and are able to identify improvements, making some refinements.