ICT

Curriculum Intent

The ICT and computer science curriculum develops learners’ knowledge, skills and understanding through key computational concepts and experience. The Key Stage 3 curriculum has been designed to ensure learners have sufficient knowledge to stay safe online and use computers safely in life while also developing resilient learners who are able to learn from mistakes and effectively solve problems.

Our aims include:

• To enhance children's quality of learning through the effective delivery of the ICT curriculum.
• To raise attainment by creating a target-orientated, highly driven culture based on the enhancement of computing skills and creative use of them in coursework.
• To have consistently high expectations and match these with high quality resources and learning strategies.
• To provide a range of educational experiences appropriate to the age, ability and needs of our students utilising all the Computing resources to hand.
• To challenge our highest ability students with a ICT course that fulfils the needs and requirements of recent National changes and industry guidelines.
• To manage and create resources to ensure maximum benefit ensuring all resources are of outstanding quality and are easily accessible.
• To adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement in all aspects of the delivery of all subjects within the faculty.
• To be promoters of lifelong learning by continually training and developing new skills using the latest technology.

Courses & Qualifications

Key Stage 3

At Key Stage 3 students are introduced to a wide range of topics covering the computing/ICT curriculum. These aim to ensure every student is computer literate by the time they leave the Academy. These topics include:

• Digital Literacy: This unit intends to develop the general digital literacy skills of students in a range of office-based pieces of software. These pieces of software are used in almost every job/career and will provide students with these sought-after skills.
• E-Safety: This unit will help students to gain a wider and more in-depth understanding of E-safety in the world around us and how to protect themselves in a digital world.
• Programming: This unit intends to develop students’ confidence and knowledge of the key programming constructs as well as learning how to program in languages such as HTML and Python.
• Computer Theory: Students will learn about the different hardware that make up a computer as well as delving into the technical aspects including binary and networks.
• Digital Design: In this unit, students will get to express their creative side by designing a range of digital products including infographics, leaflets, websites and more.

Key Stage 4

In Key Stage 4, students have the chance to further develop their skills learnt at Key Stage 3 by completing the Cambridge National Creative iMedia course by OCR. This vocationally-related qualification takes an engaging, practical and inspiring approach to learning and assessment. It will equip students with a range of skills and provide opportunities to develop, in context, transferable skills such as planning and reviewing, working with others and communicating creative concepts effectively.

Students will complete a total of 3 units over the course. Two of these are non-examination assessment which are practical units that are completing in the classroom. These make up 60% of the overall GCSE grade. The final unit is a written exam which is worth 40% of the overall GCSE grade.

• Creative iMedia in the Media Industry: In this unit students will learn about the sectors, products and job roles that form the media industry. They will learn the legal and ethical issues considered and the processes used to plan and create digital media products. They will learn how media codes are used within the creation of media products to convey meaning, create impact and engage audiences. Students will learn to choose the most appropriate format and properties for different media products. Completing this unit will provide you with the basic skills for further study or a range of creative job roles within the media industry.
• Visual Identity and Digital Graphics: In this unit students will learn how to develop visual identities for clients. They will also learn to apply the concepts of graphic design to create original digital graphics which incorporate your visual identity to engage a target audience.
• Interactive Digital Media: In this unit students will learn to design and create interactive digital media products for chosen platforms. They will learn to select, edit and repurpose multimedia content of different kinds and create the structure and interactive elements necessary for an effective user experience.

Learning Outside The Classroom

Coursework Catch-Up:

There are weekly sessions provided throughout the year where students are invited to attend coursework catch-up sessions after school as well as numerous weekend and half term session. This provides students with the opportunity to come in and do their work in a relaxed atmosphere with more one to one help from staff.

Extra-Curricular Clubs:

The ICT department offer a range of different extra-curricular clubs that allow students to explore the wider spectrum of ICT that we don’t get to cover during lessons. For example, our games development club allow students to design and create their very own games using a range of software. There is also a coding club that allow students to develop their programming skills further in programming languages such as HTML, Python and Javascript.

Where Does This Take Me In The Future?

In today's world, ICT is used everywhere; every day. Choosing to major in ICT would certainly put you above those without when applying for future careers. Some of the possible careers ICT could lead you into include:

• Website Designer
• Games Designer
• Graphic Designer
• Teacher
• Systems Analyst
• Administration and ICT Support
• Media Production
• Software Developer