Pupils study ICT in Years 7, 8 and 9 and then have the option for further study in Years 10 and 11. Currently pupils work towards achieving OCR Nationals qualifications where they use ICT skills to produce solutions to real business scenarios. Pupils learn the skills they will need to continue ICT study or enter the workplace.
OCR Nationals (Years 9, 10 and 11)
This extremely successful course has been run over a number of years and is proving extremely popular with pupils. Currently all pupils have the opportunity to achieve a qualification by the end of Year 9 with those wanting to develop their skills further taking further units in Years 10 and 11.
Starting in September 2012 we will be delivering a new qualification in Year 9, BTEC ICT, this qualification will allow pupils at gain a qualification by the end of Year 9 with more focus on business skills. This qualification will have an examined element.
Years 10 and 11 will have the opportunity to study GCSE ICT, this is a more academic qualification that the OCR National but students will still be learning using real business scenarios and will investigate some of the most up to date computer technologies available including social networking and will also learn how a computer actually works.
Key Stage 3 (Years 7 and 8)
We follow the ICT National Strategy in Years 7 and 8 and pupils benefit from having 2 lessons of ICT per week. Pupils develop the skills they will need in further years learning how databases and spreadsheets work, creating animations and presentations and learning some basic programming skills. Pupils learn how to lay work out and think about audience and purpose – skills that will benefit them in many other subjects.