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- Computing >
- Key stage 2 >
- Year 6 >
Unit outcomes
Pupils who are secure will be able to:
- Describe how computer systems have changed over time.
- Explain why computers and networks are important in the modern world.
- Describe how hardware works together to send information across a network.
- Explain how data is broken into packets, travels across a network and is reassembled at its destination.
- Troubleshoot simple real-world hardware and network problems using logical steps.
- Explain why networks need security and how additional layers of protection help keep accounts and information safe.
There is an option to invite the school’s IT technician to visit the class for a question-and-answer session to find out what the school has in place to protect the network as part of Lesson 5: Keeping networks secure.
Suggested prior learning
Computing systems: Websites, search and storage
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Teacher video: Computing systems: Understanding hardware, networks and security unit overview
Lessons
Lesson 1: From codebreaking to AI
Lesson 2: A file’s journey
Lesson 3: A website’s journey
Lesson 4: Troubleshooting computer problems
Lesson 5: Keeping networks secure
Key skills
Key skills
- Using multiple devices or
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Key knowledge
To know:
- The history and
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Key vocabulary
artifical intellegence (Y5/6)
cloud (Y3/4)
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Equipment list
Equipment needed across all lessons in this unit.
This list does not include equipment which is usually readily available in the classroom (e.g pencils, A4 paper etc)
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Full equipment list for the subject
Quantities marked × will update. Items without quantities are unaffected
- Whiteboards and pens ×30
- Colouring pencils (two different colours per child) ×30
- Envelopes ×6
- Trays ×6
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Related content
Unit resources
Knowledge organiser – Computing Y6: Computing systems: Understanding hardware, networks and security
Aimed at pupils, two pages providing key facts and definitions from the unit ‘Understanding hardware, networks and security'.
Vocabulary display – Computing Y6: Understanding hardware, networks and security
A display version of the vocabulary from the unit 'Understanding hardware, networks and security'.
Subject resources
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Cross-curricular opportunities
- History: Exploring how codebreaking and computer systems developed during and after World War 2 and how technological change has shaped modern computing.
- RSE & PSHE: Health and wellbeing – Wellbeing online: Considering the benefits and risks of using the internet, including privacy, personal data and making informed choices about sharing information online.
Build on the learning
Computing systems and networks: Machine learning
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