ICT
Key stage 3
Aims
The aim of the ICT Department is to fulfil its part in the role of developing our students into confident, responsible and successful learners who understand the relevance, importance and relationship of good ICT skills to succeeding in modern society and who enjoy transferring their developing ICT capabilities to help them solve problems and create solutions across the school curriculum.
Activities/ areas covered – key aspects of the curriculum:
Throughout Years 7 and 8 our students use a wide range of software packages consisting mainly, but not exclusively, of the Microsoft Office suite of programs to tackle realistic problems. The solutions to these problems require students to develop their confidence and capability in the uses of word processing, Desk Top Publishing, presentation software, database tools, spreadsheet modelling, web building software, control situations and movie making. Students are also required to create solutions relying on the use of more than one of these software packages.
We also make it a priority in Key Stage 3 to educate our young people about the dangers inherent in the unguarded use of social networking sites and the importance of safeguarding personal data in the information age.
Opportunities
As our ICT curriculum continues to develop we endeavour to introduce students to the latest versions of the available software and, wherever appropriate, use industry standard packages to deliver our courses.
In Year 9 students begin their OCR Nationals ICT course which will lead the vast majority of them to the achievement of one or more Level 2 ICT qualifications in Key Stage 4.
Key stage 4
Aims
The overall aim of the department at Key Stage 4 is the same as in the previous key stage, but with the very important addition creating the environment where all our students maximize their potential in order to succeed to the very best of their ability in the terminal external assessment.
What qualification can be achieved?
We offer an OCR Nationals course to all KS4 students. Those students who opt to make ICT a part of their KS4 pathway can achieve a combination of up to four Passes, Merits or Distinctions by the end of Year 11. Pass, Merit and Distinction are the equivalents of GCSE grades at “C”, “B” and “A”.
Students who do not select an ICT course will receive one hour per week where they will build on the coursework done in Y9 in order to achieve one OCR qualification.
Breakdown of course in terms of coursework/ exam:
The OCR Nationals course is 100% coursework and we fully expect most of our students to have achieved at least one OCR Nationals qualifications by the end of Year 10.
Where the course can lead post 16:
The OCR Nationals course is specifically designed to give students access to the skills they will require when they enter employment. Students carry out a range of tasks that have been designed to recognise their achievements in a modern, practical way that is relevant to the workplace. They achieve work-related qualifications which will support progression to an NVQ once a candidate is in the workplace and are also accepted in further education.
