Department staffing:
Permanent members of the department are as follows:
Mr A Brandwood Head of ICT
Mr S Young
Mr D Halcarz
Mr D Valentine
Also teaching ICT this year are:
Mr R Burns
Mr P Messingham
Facilities:
The departmental facility consists of four ICT suites consisting of between 27 and 30 networked computers. Each room has networked printing facilities. Two rooms have large demonstration screen facilities.
ICT at KS3:
At KS3 all pupils have one hour of timetabled ICT per week.
There is an expectation that pupils will also use ICT facilities in other subjects.
Pupils study the KS3 Strategy Units of work.
Fourteen units of work cover the following themes:
Finding things out:
The ability to find likely sources of relevant information empowers a pupil who is working independently. But finding the sources is just the start. The wealth of material now available through CD-ROM resources and the Internet can be daunting. There is little mediation - people have access to information through computers in homes, shopping centres, libraries and Internet cafes, and through digital television and mobile telephones.
This theme is about understanding what makes information, about motivating
enquiry and making pupils' independent study more focused and productive.
Pupils need to learn:
• How to access information from an increasingly wide variety of sources;
• To recognise the origin of information and to judge its accuracy, validity
and possible bias;
• To assess how useful and relevant a source of information and its contents will be for a particular enquiry or piece of research.
The theme also addresses how to use ICT to find things out from collected data, and in particular how pupils might:
• Identify exactly what information is required to solve a problem, complete a task or answer a question;
• Assess the value and validity of what they read, see and hear;
• Find, collect and store data efficiently, and use data appropriately to draw conclusions based on evidence.
• This theme is one that most subjects in the curriculum will draw on and, by its nature, reinforces pupils' literacy and numeracy skills.
Developing ideas and making things happen:
This theme is about what users can do with information once it has been collected. They can transform, develop or display information in various ways to understand it better and communicate it more effectively to others. They can observe, describe and try to explain what happens as a result of introducing certain changes in the information or its processing. The use of ICT increases the efficiency with which data can be processed - automated processing allows large quantities of data to be handled very rapidly.
Modelling allows someone to define or use a representation of a situation or process and to observe how it works and what happens when something changes. Modelling activities carried out with pencil and paper alone are slow. Speculative modelling is greatly enhanced, speeded up and made more dynamic and exciting if suitable ICT is available. For example, data collected from a science experiment can be stored in a spreadsheet, presented graphically, and the model explored by changing the values of the independent variables to test hypotheses.
The same principles underpin the organisation of information as sets of instructions to exercise control or to achieve desired physical effects. For example, using the menu shown on a TV screen to program a video recorder, a viewer can define instructions that are activated in the correct sequence when they are triggered; similarly, a program can be developed to control the movement and actions of a robot at a car manufacturing plant.
Exchanging and sharing information:
This theme is about the process of communication. It helps to form communities, transmits values, experiences and traditions, and expands horizons. It plays a large part in preparing pupils to be not only learners but also part of a wider community, with a voice and with responsibilities for others. Pupils of all abilities, including those with special educational needs, can gain awareness of their voice and responsibilities through sensitive teaching, and by the support provided by good role models throughout the school.
This theme is the one where there is likely to be the greatest diversity in pupils' experiences and backgrounds, based on what they have done in the primary years and at home. These varied backgrounds play a particularly significant role in what needs to be taught to pupils early in Key Stage 3. At the same time, you may find it difficult to establish, without questioning a pupil extensively, what is the pupil's own work in the information he or she 'shares', and what has largely been contributed by or 'exchanged with' others.
Reviewing, modifying and evaluating work as it progresses:
This aspect of ICT cuts across and is integrated with each of the themes.
It covers four main elements:
• Evaluating work in order to improve it
• Recognising fitness for purpose
• Recognising inappropriate uses of ICT
• Checking outcomes
ICT at KS4
All pupils must study a minimum\of a Short Course in ICT.
Pupils also have the option of studying a full GCSE course.
Full details of the Short Course can be found at the following link: Short Course
This course should encourage candidates to:
a) Choose, use and design information and communication systems to carry out a range of tasks and to solve problems, making effective use of appropriate principles and techniques;
b) Develop a broad and balanced experience of the range of information and communication systems and their applications and an understanding of their capabilities and limitations.
Through these broad aims, this course should:
• Develop the competence of candidates through the use of information technology in reasoned ways to solve significant problems using appropriate principles, techniques and equipment effectively and safely;
• Develop the capability of candidates through the practical use of information technology for a variety of appropriate purposes in ways which produce effective responses to identified needs and opportunities in the whole curriculum;
• Develop the knowledge, concepts and skills which will enable candidates to develop a broad and balanced view on a range of information systems and their applications, an understanding of their capabilities and limitations and an ability to evaluate them critically;
• Develop the abilities of candidates, through the appropriate knowledge and concepts, to comment and reflect on the significant legal, political, social, environmental, economic and aesthetic applications, implications and effects of information technology;
• Encourage precise and accurate communication skills in a variety of media.
How is the course assessed?
Assessment is partly through final examination (40%)
and partly through coursework (60%).
Full details of the GSE Course can be found at the following link: Full GCSE
The full course specification encourages candidates to:
a) Choose, use and design information and communication systems to carry out a range of tasks and to solve problems, making effective use of appropriate principles and techniques;
b) Develop a broad and balanced experience of the range of information and communication systems and their applications and an understanding of their capabilities and limitations.
Through these broad aims, this course should:
• Develop the competence of candidates through the use of information technology in reasoned ways to solve significant problems using appropriate principles, techniques and equipment effectively and safely;
• Develop the capability of candidates through the practical use of information technology for a variety of appropriate purposes in ways which produce effective responses to identified needs and opportunities in the whole curriculum;
• Develop the knowledge, concepts and skills which will enable candidates to develop a broad and balanced view on a range of information systems and their applications, an understanding of their capabilities and limitations and an ability to evaluate them critically;
• Develop the abilities of candidates, through the appropriate knowledge and concepts, to comment and reflect on the significant legal, political, social, environmental, economic and aesthetic applications, implications and effects of information technology;
• Encourage precise and accurate communication skills in a variety of media.
How is the course assessed?
Assessment is partly through final examination (40%)
and partly through coursework (60%).
ICT at KS5
Pupils can study ‘AS’ ICT and ‘A2’ ICT.
How is the course assessed?
Assessment of each course is partly through final examination (40%)
and partly through coursework (60%).
The content covers the principles of problem solving using ICT and a range of applications, and the effects of their use. Students are encouraged to understand the use of ICT to process data within and between organisations, individuals and situations.
This course aims to develop:
• Problem-solving skills through the practical application of information and communication technology;
• The ability to analyse, appraise and make critical judgements about the use of information and communication technology systems;
• Interpersonal skills necessary for communicating with others;
• An understanding of the nature of information, its structure, application and implications of its use;
• An awareness of the role of information technology in the management, manipulation and dissemination of information;
• A broad and balanced view of the range of applications and information systems, and an understanding of their capabilities and limitations, and the implications for their use;
• An understanding of the role of people, technology and systems in organisations;
• An awareness of the economic, social and ethical implications of the use of information technology systems.
For the 'AS' qualification 3 modules will be covered:
• Module 1 – Information: Nature Role and Context
• Module 2 – Information: Management and Manipulation
• Module 3 – Coursework: The Use of Generic Application Software for Task Solution
For the 'A2' qualification 3 additional modules will be covered:
• Module 4 – Information Systems within Organisations
• Module 5 – Information: Policy, Strategy and Systems
• Module 6 – Coursework: Use of Information Systems for Problem Solving
How is the course assessed?
Assessment is by means of 3 units of assessment for 'AS' and a further 3 units for 'A2'. In each case 2 units will have question papers which can be taken in January or June.
The other 2 units will be assessed on coursework.
Extra Curricular Activities
Lunch-time sessions for Y10 and Y11 to complete coursework
are held by Mr A Brandwood.
After school sessions for Y10 and Y11 to complete coursework are held by
Mr S Young and Mr D Halcarz.
