Years 3–6 long-term overview

Digital Literacy & Applied ICT

This programme develops the everyday digital skills children need to use school technology independently and effectively: handling files, using Microsoft 365 productivity apps, communicating by email, sharing and working on documents together, and staying safe and responsible online. It is written so a class teacher can deliver it without a computing specialist background.This programme develops the everyday digital skills children need to use school technology independently and effectively: handling files, using Google Workspace productivity apps, communicating by email, sharing and working on documents together, and staying safe and responsible online. It is written so a class teacher can deliver it without a computing specialist background.This programme develops the everyday digital skills children need to use school technology independently and effectively: handling files, using the built-in iPad apps — Pages, Keynote and Numbers — communicating by email, sharing and working on documents together, and staying safe and responsible online. It is written so a class teacher can deliver it without a computing specialist background.

30 minutes per week · 30 weeks per year · iPad and Windows (Microsoft 365)30 minutes per week · 30 weeks per year · tablet and Chromebook (Google Workspace)30 minutes per week · 30 weeks per year · iPad-led (Pages, Keynote, Numbers)

Choose a year

Year 3 Becoming confident, safe users Becoming confident, safe users — logging in, saving, Word, email, PowerPoint and organising work.Becoming confident, safe users — logging in, saving, Google Docs, email, Google Slides and organising work.Becoming confident, safe users — logging in, saving, Pages, email, Keynote and organising work. 30 weeks · 6 half-terms · 6 safety lessons Year 4 Organising work and first collaboration Organising work and first collaboration — folders, Word in depth, email, sharing and co-editing.Organising work and first collaboration — folders, Google Docs in depth, email, sharing and co-editing.Organising work and first collaboration — folders, Pages in depth, email, sharing and co-editing. 30 weeks + 3 extra · 6 half-terms · 6 safety lessons Year 5 Sharing, permissions and working with data Sharing, permissions and working with data — co-authoring, spreadsheets, Forms and surveys.Sharing, permissions and working with data — co-authoring, spreadsheets, Google Forms and surveys.Sharing, permissions and working with data — co-authoring, spreadsheets, Forms and surveys. 30 weeks + 1 extra · 6 half-terms · 6 safety lessons Year 6 Fluency, Teams workflow and transitionFluency, Google Classroom workflow and transitionFluency, shared workflow and transition Fluency, Teams workflow and transition — advanced productivity, media literacy and secondary-ready skills.Fluency, Google Classroom workflow and transition — advanced productivity, media literacy and secondary-ready skills.Fluency, shared workflow and transition — advanced productivity, media literacy and secondary-ready skills. 30 weeks + 2 extra · 6 half-terms · 6 safety lessons

Three threads, woven across each year

Core ICT & file management

logging in, device fluency, saving, organising, OneDrive.logging in, device fluency, saving, organising, Google Drive.logging in, device fluency, saving, organising, iCloud Drive.
Productivity & M365 collaborationProductivity & Workspace collaborationProductivity & iWork collaboration

Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Forms, email, sharing, co-authoring, Teams.Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets, Google Forms, email, sharing, co-authoring, Google Classroom.Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Forms, email, sharing, co-authoring, Schoolwork.
Online safety & digital citizenship

a short recurring strand opening each half-term (shaded rows).

How this fits with your STEM provision

Computer science and design & technology are taught separately through the school’s project-based STEM lessons. This overview deliberately avoids re-teaching coding, algorithms, networks or DT. Instead it concentrates on the applied “information technology” and digital-literacy skills that those lessons assume but do not explicitly cover — so the two strands complement rather than duplicate one another.

Devices and tools

Almost everything runs in a browser or the Microsoft 365 web apps, so it works on both iPads and Windows laptops. Where a task is smoother on a laptop (for example Excel, file management in File Explorer, or Teams), that is noted in the “Tools / apps” column. “Word for the web” is used where real-time co-authoring is the point of the lesson.Almost everything runs in the browser, so it works on both tablets and Chromebooks. Where a task is smoother with a keyboard and trackpad (for example Google Sheets, file management in the Files app, or Google Classroom), that is noted in the “Tools / apps” column. Sharing a Google Doc with editing rights is used where real-time co-editing is the point of the lesson.Everything here runs on the iPad, in the built-in apps or in Safari. Where a task is smoother with a keyboard (for example Numbers, or longer writing in Pages), attach one if you have them. Pages with Collaborate turned on is used where real-time co-editing is the point of the lesson. Email, surveys and handing work out come from your school's Microsoft or Google accounts.

Different apps at your school? Pick yours from the dropdown at the top of the page — it shows the one you are reading now — and every page renames itself. See what changes.

The online-safety strand

The shaded weeks map to ProjectEVOLVE – the free SWGfL toolkit built on the UKCIS Education for a Connected World framework. Each shaded week names the relevant strand and year so staff can export a ready-made, age-appropriate lesson rather than plan from scratch. ProjectEVOLVE is free but requires registration.

See the safety strand Open ProjectEVOLVE ↗

Teaching email without pupil mailboxes

Some schools do not give pupils email accounts, and many do not allow pupils to email each other. The practice mailbox is a simulated email app built into this site, with a ready-made inbox for each year. There is no account and no connection to anything: nothing is ever sent, and a pupil's practice stays in the browser in front of them.

Open the practice mailbox

Need it on paper?

The whole course, or any single year, comes out as a document you can print, save as a PDF or file in a scheme of work — written in your school's apps, with every objective, app and online-safety link in place.

Print & export

How to read this overview

Each year is 30 weeks across six half-terms of five weeks. This is a long-term map: it gives the weekly focus, an “I can…” objective, the tool and the safety link. It is intentionally not 120 detailed lesson plans – those can be written from this spine once the structure is agreed. Weeks are a guide; half-terms can be reordered to suit your calendar, though skills within a year build in sequence.

Each lesson page turns a week of this spine into a suggested 30-minute plan with an objective, success criteria, the apps needed and a prep checklist — a starting point you can adapt to your class.