Parent comments on the strength of Computing at West Lodge: 

Each child has a weekly Computing lesson in a small group setting in our fully equipped Computing Suite (maximum 11 children/session).  

The school is well-resourced with a fully equipped Computer Suite with three 3D printers, plus a bank of iPads, full set of Micro:bits!, Raspberry Pis and full set of Crumble Programming Units.

All classrooms have a PC which is attached to an interactive white board and the bank of iPads are used within the classrooms.

We run various projects in each year group for computing. Some of which are listed below:

• Year 6 – Build an Arcade Cabinet (understanding hardware and building computers), Robotics.
• Year 5 / 6 – Design and build an App.
• Years 3 / 4 – Green screen work and designing games on a computer.
• Years 1 -6 – Design and create 3D models and then print them using our 3D printers in school

Learning is built on each year so that by the time the children are in Year 6 they can undertake complex projects. 

Engineering and iterative design is a real focus and strength. The curriculum, that runs from Nursery through to Year 6, is built to support each child to think and solve problems as an engineer.

This is based upon the engineering approach of identify a problem, design a prototype, evaluate, redesign and modify which links perfectly with the now well-established Learning Powers. 

Each year we run a whole school project, and every term each year group has a class engineering challenge that is interdisciplinary in nature and links to their topic work. 

This year's whole school project inspired 103 pupils to enter a national engineering competition, with considerable success:

The Business Enterprise Programme is an annual event for Year 6 pupils, made possible thanks to the generosity of business experts from our wider school community who volunteer their time to run the programme. 

The children learn about finance, product design and how to present their business and use all of these skills to devise a product and marketing strategy for presentation to business experts.

This year the ideas were fantastic and sought to solve a wide range of everyday problems.  Solutions included an app to direct users to the appropriate care for medical problems, an intelligent cat litter tray, a device to keep bedsheets tucked in, a pet-sitter robot and using technology to link students and subject experts. Their presentations included marketing jingles, fully working prototypes and industry expert endorsement videos!

Giving a presentation of this type aged 11 is not easy but being challenged by the experts takes it to another level, particularly when justifying your financial projections! The children confidently answered questions on areas such as business reserves, potential legal issues surrounding their products and how their product would perform in a crowded market.

As part of the geography curriculum pupils of all ages learn about key environmental issues but Year 5, in particular, study renewable energy, climate change and consider the arguments for and against rewilding. Complemented by a trip to Knepp Estate, the UK’s most influential large scale rewilding project, the children redesign and rewild an area of Sidcup. Current and contemporary in content, the children relish this topic, giving them an awareness beyond their years of solutions to some of the challenges we face. 

Eco-Council An opportunity for pupils to select class eco-council representatives to run pupil led campaigns making a difference to the school and local environment.  Our Eco-Councillors have earned the Green Flag Award. For the last two years which is a prestigious, internationally recognised accreditation that rewards educational settings for their environmental action, pupil-led campaigns, and sustainability education. 

Our whole school focus on metacognition equips children with a series of skills they can use in any context; concentration, collaboration, curiosity, resilience, self-improvement.  Each term our ‘Learning Power Champions’ are recongised in an assembly and are presented with their celebration badges. 

Displays celebrate the champions and talk about Learning Powers can be heard in every classroom daily. 

Animal characters help the younger children understand the metacognitive skills they are accessing and this is embedded by the time the children reach Year 6.  This understanding is illustrated by a Year 1 pupil who commented “I use Albert the Armadillo (resilience) and Kelly the Koala (curiosity) most. I’m most curious about how things work, like how the world spins round in 24 hours” and Year 6 pupils consistently demonstrate that they understand the impact metacognition in school and beyond ; If you are good at concentrating then you are most likely to be successful’ (Year 6 Pupil). 

“The introduction of ‘learning powers’, a core set of skills and characteristics that define success in learning, has had a positive impact on pupils’ resilience and adaptability.  Regular opportunities to present and then reflect upon their work supports pupils to be self-aware and comfortable with their achievements and personal areas for development”. 

2025 ISI Report

Public Speaking Competition

At West Lodge pupils’ oracy skills are strong and their collaborative and reflective skills are already well developed through the emphasis upon metacognition, discrete learning powers and the emphasis given to pupil voice across the school,

Public Speaking is taught and pupils enjoy a wide range of opportunities to speak throughout the year.  Opportunities include our House Public Speaking Competition, leading assemblies, persuading business experts as part of our Business Enterprise Programme, Poetry Recital Competition, current affairs presentations plus speaking to the whole school community at the end of term church services.

Recent examples include Year 6 pupils balancing the economic impact of a new airport and ski resort in Scotland against environmental concerns and assemblies by students on issues such as child poverty and a celebration of David Attenborough and his work. 

Throughout their time at West Lodge, children are regularly provided with opportunities to lead.

Each class votes for both School Councillors and Eco Councillors, who then lead their peers in related issues. Whilst in regular weekly scheduled problem solving activities, children are able to demonstrate their leadership skills in these collaborative tasks.

As the children move up the school, naturally expectations increase and as children enter Year 6, they are given multiple opportunities to demonstrate their increasing responsibility.

All of these roles allow them to put into action all the leadership, motivational, organisational and team-building and public speaking skills that they have learnt during their time with us at West Lodge School.