Subject Overview

Computing is continually changing the way in which we live, work and rest and as such it is vitally important that all our young people have the chance to engage safely and responsibly with information technology and computing in a variety of ways. Computational thinking is essential for all our young people to master to be thoroughly equipped for the 21st Century challenges and we are committed to providing them with outstanding opportunities in this area. Our curriculum has therefore been designed to be exciting, varied and challenging to equip all our young people to be able to use programming languages to solve real world problems

Key Stage 3 Overview (Years 7 - 9)

Year 7

Introduction to Computer Science & E-safety

Hardware & Processing

Binary Operations (Numbers & Characters)

Modelling with Flowol

Problem solving with Scratch

Programming with the Microbit

 
Year 8

Programming for the web

Programming with Scratch (Virtual Pet)

Computing Heroes

Database Development

Artificial Intelligence & Computer Coding

Creative Project (Raspberry Pi)

Year 9

Game Making Project

Computer Networks & Internt

Investigating Algorithms

Advanced Programming with Python

App Making

Key Stage 4 Overview (Years 10-11)

As part of their options, students will have the opportunity to study Computing and/or ICT to GCSE level.

At KS4, Computer Science has been changed to OCR J276.

Unit 1 Computer Systems

This module of the course is designed to give the students an overview of the inner workings of a general-purpose computer system. They will develop a deep understanding of the hardware found within the computer system, its function and how the hardware operates. This unit of work will also cover Operating systems and Legal and ethical issues surrounding the topic of computer science.

Unit 2 Computational Thinking

This module of the course encourages the pupils to be critical thinkers and to use their analytical thinking to solve a variety of real-world problems using computers. The pupils will have the opportunity to learn to program in Python and will use this knowledge to program a solution to a real-world problem.

In this unit the pupils will also develop an understanding of the mathematics that make computing possible. This begins with an understanding of Binary and Hexadecimal representation of data moving onto Boolean logic and the ability to use logic gates to construct truth tables.

The GCSE ICT has been replaced with Creative I Media.

Cambridge Nationals in Creative I Media are media sector focused, including film, television, web development, gaming and animation, and have IT at their heart. They provide knowledge in a number of key areas in this field from pre-production skills to digital animation and have a motivating, hands on approach to both teaching and learning.

Here at Savio Salesian College Pupils will cover a variety of units such as:

R081: Pre-Production Skills

R082: Creating digital Images

R084: Story telling with a comic strip

R085: Creating a multi page website