Computer Science

Curriculum Intention  

1. Students will understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly, and securely, including protecting their online identity and privacy; recognise inappropriate content, contact and conduct and know how to report concerns.

2. Students will understand the hardware and software components that make up computer systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems.

3. Students will understand how instructions are stored and executed within a computer system.

Curriculum Implementation  

A mix of enquiry based, and guided learning projects are used to deliver both computing & ICT topics. This enables students to become familiar with the concept of combining software tools to solve problems as well as understand the theory to unpin the understanding of the technologies in preparation for KS4 and KS5.    

The variety of software used is constantly changing as our philosophy in the department is to encourage exploration and creativity. Whilst students are introduced to the common functions within mainstream software the focus is on developing their independent problem solving skills. We take care to ensure that through the KS3 ICT curriculum students not only learn important ICT skills which will help them with future studies but to also open their eyes to the wider world of ICT and computing such as creating animations, basic programming, flow diagrams & computer control and designing & writing web-pages in HTML. We also ensure that our students have a thorough understanding of how to stay safe online by introducing the topic at the start of every year with more advancing issues as they develop as young people.    

As a department, we encourage students to become independent in their learning by showing them how to use software but giving them the confidence to explore further both individually and through collaboration.  Providing students with core computer science skills helps prepare them for the technical challenges of the future, but also teaches them a wide range of transferable skills such as problem solving, logical reasoning and computational thinking.   

These skills provide a great base for students’ future careers where digital jobs and activity are becoming ever more important in traditionally non-digital areas of the economy, from retail to financial services and the public sector. It is estimated that the digital tech economy currently provides 1.56m jobs in the UK and moreover, that job growth in the digital tech economy is 2.8 times faster than the rest of the economy with the three biggest areas being in app development, data management and analytics and hardware, devices and open-source hardware.   

Assessment  

Students are assessed using a range of summative and formative assessments across all units. ONENOTE and student E Portfolio form a basis for assessment. These along with end of unit assessments, combined with class based work are used to determine current work at grades. 

Wider Curriculum Opportunities 

Minecraft Club 

Coding Clubs 

Robotics Club 

Bebras International Competition  

Curriculum Impact  

Unit 1: Using Computers Safely and Responsibly 

Students should be able to use TEAMS/ONENOTE and school email. They will be looking at file management and security (passwords). Students will also be able to use the Internet properly for school related purposes, such as research and getting images. Students will become more socially aware of the school’s network and how to fully use it to improve their learning across the whole school community. In addition, by completing the ‘Using Computers Safely and Responsibly’ unit students will gain a greater understanding of the implications of e-safety and cyberbullying. 

Unit 2: History of Computing & Binary  

In this unit students will learn how mathematics relates to Computer science, how the first computer first came about and how computers operate in terms of calculations and hardware. 

Unit 3: Games-Programming in Scratch 

This unit introduces the Scratch programming environment. Students will plan and develop their own games, learning to incorporate variables, procedures, lists and operators. They should be able to create a fully working game using computer science concepts. By completing this unit students are able to apply concepts such as sequencing, selection, abstraction and iteration to a game in Scratch. They will be applying their knowledge of skills learnt, to create a game specified by the teacher. 

Unit 4: Python Turtle

The focus of this unit of work is on getting students to understand the process of developing programs, the importance of writing correct syntax, being able to formulate algorithms for simple programs and debugging their programs.  

Key Skill 

Curriculum Intention

1. Students will use two or more programming languages, at least one of which is textual, to solve a variety of computational problems; make appropriate use of data structures [for example, lists, tables or arrays]; design and develop modular programs that use procedures or functions. 

2. Students will understand simple Boolean logic [for example, AND, OR and NOT] and some of its uses in circuits and programming; understand how numbers can be represented in binary and be able to carry out simple operations on binary numbers [for example, binary addition, and conversion between binary and decimal. 

3. Students will understand how instructions are stored and executed within a computer system; understand how data of various types (including text, sounds and pictures) can be represented and manipulated digitally, in the form of binary digits. 

Curriculum Implementation  

A mix of enquiry based, and guided learning projects are used to deliver both computing & ICT topics. This enables students to become familiar with the concept of combining software tools to solve problems as well as understand the theory to unpin the understanding of the technologies in preparation for KS4 and KS5.    

The variety of software used is constantly changing as our philosophy in the department is to encourage exploration and creativity. Whilst students are introduced to the common functions within mainstream software the focus is on developing their independent problem solving skills. We take care to ensure that through the KS3 ICT curriculum students not only learn important ICT skills which will help them with future studies but to also open their eyes to the wider world of ICT and computing such as creating animations, basic programming, flow diagrams & computer control and designing & writing web-pages in HTML. We also ensure that our students have a thorough understanding of how to stay safe online by introducing the topic at the start of every year with more advancing issues as they develop as young people.    

As a department, we encourage students to become independent in their learning by showing them how to use software but giving them the confidence to explore further both individually and through collaboration.  Providing students with core computer science skills helps prepare them for the technical challenges of the future, but also teaches them a wide range of transferable skills such as problem solving, logical reasoning and computational thinking.   

These skills provide a great base for students’ future careers where digital jobs and activity are becoming ever more important in traditionally non-digital areas of the economy, from retail to financial services and the public sector. It is estimated that the digital tech economy currently provides 1.56m jobs in the UK and moreover, that job growth in the digital tech economy is 2.8 times faster than the rest of the economy with the three biggest areas being in app development, data management and analytics and hardware, devices and open source hardware.   

Assessment

Students are assessed using a range of summative and formative assessments across all units. ONENOTE and student E Portfolio form a basis for assessment. These along with end of unit assessments, combined with class based work are used to determine current work at grades. 

Wider Curriculum Opportunities

Minecraft Club 

Coding Clubs 

Robotics Club 

Bebras International Competition  

Curriculum Impact  

Unit 1: Understanding Computers 

In this theoretical unit pupils will learn about the basic principles of computer architecture and the use of binary. Delving deeper with the principles of computer Input-Process-Output sequence through the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle through practical activities. Students s will then look at some simple binary to decimal conversion and vice versa, followed by some simple binary addition. Students will learn in more depth how storage devices represent data using binary patterns and are able to physically save these patterns.  

Unit 2: Introduction to Python 

This unit is an introduction to Python, a powerful but easy-to-use high-level programming language. Although Python is an object-oriented language, at this level the object-oriented features of the language are barely in evidence and do not need to be discussed. The focus is on getting students to understand the process of developing programs, the importance of writing correct syntax, being able to formulate algorithms for simple programs and debugging their programs. Students final programs are put into a learning portfolio with evidence of correct running, for assessment purposes.  

Unit 3: Networks  

This is a theoretical unit covering the basic principles and architecture of local and wide area networks.  Students will learn that the World Wide Web is part of the Internet, and how web addresses are constructed and stored as IP addresses. Client-server, peer-to-peer networks and the concept of cloud computing are all discussed. Ways of keeping data secure and simple encryption techniques are also covered. In the final lesson, students will sit a multiple choice test which will form the Unit assessment. 

Unit 4: Computer Crime and Cyber Security 

Students will learn about some of the legal safeguards regarding computer use, including overviews of the Computer Misuse Act, Data Protection Act and Copyright Law and their implications for computer use. Phishing scams and other email frauds, hacking, “data harvesting” and identity theft are discussed together with ways of protecting online identity and privacy. Health and Safety Law and environmental issues such as the safe disposal of old computers are also discussed. 

Curriculum Intention

Students will understand a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting their online identity and privacy; recognise inappropriate content, contact and conduct and know how to report concerns. 

Students will understand the hardware and software components that make up computer systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems. 

Students will understand how instructions are stored and executed within a computer system. 

Curriculum Implementation  

A mix of enquiry based, and guided learning projects are used to deliver both computing & ICT topics. This enables students to become familiar with the concept of combining software tools to solve problems as well as understand the theory to unpin the understanding of the technologies in preparation for KS4 and KS5.    

The variety of software they use is constantly changing as our philosophy in the department is to encourage exploration and creativity. Whilst students are introduced to the common functions within mainstream software the focus is on developing their independent problem solving skills. We take care to ensure that through the KS3 ICT curriculum students not only learn important ICT skills which will help them with future studies but to also open their eyes to the wider world of ICT and computing such as creating animations, basic programming, flow diagrams & computer control and designing & writing web-pages in HTML. We also ensure that our students have a thorough understanding of how to stay safe online by introducing the topic at the start of every year with more advancing issues as they develop as young people.    

As a department, we encourage students to be more independent in their learning by showing them how to use software but giving them the confidence to explore further both individually and through collaboration.  Providing students with core computer science skills helps prepare them for the technical challenges of the future, but also teaches them a wide range of transferable skills such as problem solving, logical reasoning and computational thinking.   

These skills provide a great base for students’ future careers where digital jobs and activity are becoming ever more important in traditionally non-digital areas of the economy, from retail to financial services and the public sector. It is estimated that the digital tech economy currently provides 1.56m jobs in the UK and moreover, that job growth in the digital tech economy is 2.8 times faster than the rest of the economy with the three biggest areas being in app development, data management and analytics and hardware, devices and open source hardware.   

Assessment  

Students are assessed using a range of summative and formative assessments across all units. ONENOTE and student E Portfolio form a basis for assessment. These along with end of unit assessments, combined with class based work are used to determine current work at grades. 

Wider Curriculum 

Minecraft Club 

Coding Clubs 

Robotics Club 

Bebras International Competition  

Curriculum Impact  

Unit 1: Hardware & Data Representation 

Students will learn about different types of logic gates and produce truth tables based on given circuits. They will develop their knowledge of binary and hexadecimal number system and apply problem solving skills to solve real life puzzles. Students will gain an understanding of the purpose of the CPU and explore the primary memories and how they are used to ensure the computer processes all the requests made by a user. Students will learn about resolution and how file sizes are calculated by finding out the relationship between bit, bytes, kilobytes and more. 

Unit 2: Advanced Python 

Create a Python quiz. Variables, selection were learnt in year 8 and will be recapped this unit. New concepts such as iteration, random and lists are used to produce a more efficient quiz. All these skills are needed for GCSE Computer Science. 

Unit 3: HTML and Web Development 

By completing this unit students will learn how to create text styles and add content, including text and graphics, in a specified position on a page, as well as navigation links to other pages on their website and to external websites. 

Unit 4: Introduction to Databases 

This unit covers essential theory of databases, but has a practical focus, covering the creation and use of a single table database and/or a simple relational database. Create a flat-file or two-table relational database. Understand the importance of suitable data types, field types and validation. Create queries and reports using data from one or both tables. Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge and understand how we use databases in the real world. 

Key Skills