Technology

In recent years Palatine has focussed on promoting the access to and use of technology within school.

This has been to enable teaching and learning across the curriculum as well as delivering the discrete computing curriculum.At Palatine children learn to use technology safely through our online safety curriculum – this is part of everything we do.

Through independent learning activities children learn the Computational Thinking Skills, these are the building blocks for the skills and knowledge children need to know to be confident operating a device. This includes making patterns, following instructions, debugging and problem solving activities.
At Palatine we plan our curriculum to include plugged and unplugged activities.

Children have the opportunity to learn the skills that they need to know off a device so they have a greater understanding of how things happen on a computer and why. This includes activities such as ‘code a friend’.

Children begin exploring technology through switch toys, buttons and cause and effect activities. They also explore games and programmes through digital devices such as iPads and the class Clever Touch board.

As children develop skills in technology, they use programmes which support them to research, create, edit, present and code.

Children explore technology and how it is used in the home, school and the wider community. They learn how technology benefits our lives now and how it might be used in the future.
Children at Palatine begin to learn about algorithms and how a computer uses these to understand what we want it to do. Children learn about these through games and play, leading onto coding and creating their own block instructions within a game.

Each class has ipads and a class Clevertouch within their classroom. We also have an iPad and laptop trolley for whole class technology sessions. This means teaching can be flexible and take place in different environments!

Some of our learners use communication devices and we subscribe to a programme called ‘Go Talk’. This helps our learners to communicate through key vocabulary and to build sentences throughout their day.
Palatine subscribes to Purple Mash. This is a fantastic resource which supports learning in all curriculum subjects through the use of technology. This includes making pictures, stories and charts and is accessible to all our pupils.