Year 7 Computing
Rapid developments in ICT and Computing are fuelling fundamental changes in society and impacting on the lives of everyone. It is hard to imagine a life without computers and electronic devices as we have become immersed in what is often referred to as the “internet age”. For this reason, it is vital that our students gain a core set of Computing skills as well as the capacity to continue to develop their own learning within computing. Students are encouraged to become independent and flexible learners who can confidently engage with a variety of aspects of computing both in and out of school. This will enable them to develop into more confident and productive individuals whilst also helping them to gain valuable skills for life. As a school, we acknowledge the importance of ICT through providing core lessons in Computing at key stage 3 as well as providing an option to study Computing and ICT at GCSE and A Level.
Key Stage 3
We take a creative and cross curricular approach to learning in Key Stage 3 and aim to raise student’s awareness of the impact of Computing and ICT on society including social, moral and economic issues, as well as their own personal safety. Key Stage 3 students have lessons for 3 hour per fortnight and follow a scheme of work which has been developed in order to implement the requirements of the National Curriculum Computing programme of study and provide students with the opportunity to develop the analytical, interpersonal and technical skills they require to be active participants in today’s exciting, dynamic, digital world. The new schemes of work place a greater emphasis on coding in a variety of languages, as well as examining key technical issues relating to the design and use of computers.
Key Stage 3 Assessment
Students will receive a variety of on-going feedback on their computing work as well as a summative assessment of their progress at the end of each project. This assessment will be based on the requirements of the National Curriculum and an attainment level will be awarded. Self and peer assessment opportunities are built into each project and students are encouraged to develop their own assessment criteria and their understanding of the National Curriculum assessment levels.
Year 7 Curriculum
Curriculum areas covered during this year include:
- Staying safe online (incorporating desktop publishing)
- Computational Thinking (including algorithms for searching and sorting, binary numbers and bitmap images)
- Scratch programming
- Programming using BBC Microbits
- Game Design
- Cryptography
- Inside your PC
- Binary
- Software
