Computer Science

Year 7-9 Curriculum Overview

Year 10-11 Curriculum Overview 

Year 7

Students will start by mastering essential skills to become ‘Curriculum Ready’. They will explore the realm of responsible digital citizenship and programming, followed by creating their first websites and examining various programming languages in a straightforward manner; boosting engagement and enhancing computational thinking.

Unit 1 – Curriculum Ready
Unit 2 – Collaborating Online Respectfully & Safely
Unit 3 – Introduction to Algorithms & Block Based Programming 
Unit 4 – Introduction to Web Design & Creating Websites Using Template Based Tools
Unit 5 – Introduction to Image Manipulation and Legislation
Unit 8 – Exploration of Programming Platforms

Year 8

In Year 8, students will further develop their programming skills by tackling more complex tasks across different programming environments. They will get a taste of what the GCSE curriculum entails, learning how computers store and communicate information, and understanding data representation in binary form.

Unit 1 – Computing Systems / Social Media / Infographics
Unit 2 – Developing for the Web - HTML
Unit 3 – Cyber Security
Unit 4 – Binary Bits and Bobs and Python Programming 1
Unit 5 – Introduction to Python Programming 2
Unit 6 – App Development 

Year 9

In Year 9, students will encounter greater challenges and gain a deeper understanding of the world, focusing on the role of IT in society and the continuous use of data to monitor and evaluate crucial decisions. Additionally, we will address the online challenges our students face by following the CEOP Ambassadors programme.

Unit 1 – IT and Society  
Unit 2 – Binary Bits and Bobs 2
Unit 3 – Data Science
Unit 4 –  Python with sequences of data
Unit 5 – Online Safety  
Unit 6 – Media Animations (Blender)

At KS4, students will study the OCR 9-1 Computer Science J277 course. The course consists of 2 Components:

Component 1: Computer Systems 

Weighting: 50% Exam: 1 hour 30 minutes

This component focuses on a number of key areas: systems architecture, investigate computer memory and storage, the exploration of modern network layouts and how they function, data representation, build skills in the ever-important realm of cyber security, investigate how types of software are used within computer systems and stretch wider comprehension of how computers and computing affect ethical, legal, cultural and environmental issues.

Component 2: Computational thinking, Algorithms and Programming

Weighting: 50% Exam: 1 hour 30 minutes

This component offers a hands-on approach to studying the fundamental algorithms in computer science, whilst building a firm foundation in programming techniques.  Students apply knowledge and understanding gained in component 01 to develop skills and understanding in computational thinking: algorithms, programming techniques, producing robust programs, computational logic and translators.  Students are also given the opportunity to undertake a programming task(s) during their course of study which allows them to develop their skills to design, write, test and refine programs using a high-level programming language. Students will be assessed on these skills during the written examinations.

GCSE Computer-Science OCR Specification

• Exam board: OCR
• Specimen papers and mark schemes for Computer Science are available for download from the OCR website.

Revision guide: Oxford Revise OCR GCSE Computer Science - Complete Revision and practice
New Grade 9-1 GCSE Computer Science OCR 10-Minute Tests
Current news articles covering a breadth of subject related topics and developments
YouTube Channel: craigndave https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCiOXwirraUAvkTPDWeeSqAKty3LAG37-
Seneca Learning (year 10) - https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/
SmartRevise (year 11) - https://smartrevise.online/

Encourage your child to stay informed about new technologies and their impact on various stakeholders, such as the economy, businesses, and the local community. The technology section on the BBC website offers many interesting articles and updates.

Logic is crucial for a good programmer. Support your child by engaging them in logic games, puzzles, and challenges.

Ensure your child reviews and consolidates any work completed in class using revision guides, organisers, mind maps, etc. Verify that they understand the definitions of key terms and can spell them correctly.

At GCSE level, your child should spend at least one hour per week on programming challenges, or debugging exercises.

Students should make use of mark schemes to check any practice papers or exam questions they have completed so that they can identify where they have gained and lost marks - a great deal can be gained from unpicking questions and understanding what marks are awarded for.

An array of competitions and challenges throughout the year, including coding club, Cyber Discovery, and First Lego League