The Computing curriculum at Thornhill Community Academy offers students the opportunity to explore, understand and evaluate how and why Information Technology and Computing is used within our day to day lives, as well as society generally.  Within Key Stage 3, students will:

• Explore how technology can be used within (and outside of) an education setting to learn and retain knowledge
• Develop a toolkit of IT skills to enable them to meet the digital demands of the 21st century workplace and world
• Critically consider the implications of the ways in which digital technology enhances, challenges, and impacts our world
• Demonstrate their understanding of Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development through application of digital projects, many of which consider ethical issues
• Explore the ways in which computers are used to solve many of the problems around the world
• Develop logical thinking and programming skills to solve computational problems

Description of the course at Key Stage 3
The Computing curriculum within KS3 provides students with an ambitious programme of study, based upon National Curriculum expectations. Each unit has a project theme, with a sequence of lessons that build upon a specific concept, such as binary data and logic, image editing, or the history of computing. This is designed to act as a set of conceptual building blocks, with tasks completed based on software appropriate to the project and an increase of depth and application as the project progresses. Each project has a mixture of work completed digitally through MS Teams (some of which is teacher assessed), completed by hand in a class handbook or through low stakes assessments. The Computing curriculum enables learners to retain and deploy learning and build upon what they learn term by term, year on year.

Why study Computer Science at GCSE?

Computer Science is engaging and practical, encouraging creativity and problem solving. It encourages students to develop their understanding and application of the core concepts in computer science. Students also analyse problems in computational terms and devise creative solutions by designing, writing, testing, and evaluating programs.

Computer science is a discipline of computing, which focuses on the study of information processes and creating computer programmes. It involves writing code and applying complex algorithms to design computer software and models, solve computing problems and also create new ways to use technology.

From the movies you watch on your smartphone during boring train rides to the functioning of the entire railway system itself, the use of computer science has become second nature to our daily lives. Even your favourite apps such as Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter require computer science to exist.

That’s not all. The algorithms and computer models in computer science are useful in almost every field including medicine (such as using MRI scans to diagnose diseases), linguistics (using computers to recognise speech) and economics (using models to forecast economic conditions).

Undertaking a Computer Science Degree will equip you with the skills to become a competent software developer and programmer.
 
A GCSE in Computer Science will encourage students to:

• Understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of Computer Science, including abstraction, decomposition, logic, algorithms, and data representation
• Analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems, including designing, writing, and debugging programs
• Think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically, and critically
• Understand the components that make up digital systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems
• Understand the impacts of digital technology to the individual and to wider society
• Apply mathematical skills relevant to Computer Science.

Course Information
 
Link to Specification for students: https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/computer-science-j277-from-2020/

The qualification is comprised of 2, externally assessed, exam-based components which are called:

• Component 1: Computer Systems
• Component 2: Computational Thinking, Algorithms and Programming

Within the current specification, there is also a separate ‘Practical Programming’ component which students can complete independently. This is designed to give students that chance to undertake a programming task within the course of student. This will further develop the skills and knowledge needed within component 2.

This qualification is equivalent to 1 GCSE and is graded using the GCSE (9-1) system.

Each student will have 3 hours of computing a week in which they will learn key concepts and programming techniques which underpin computer science.

Course Content and Assessment

Component 1 - Exam 50% (80 Marks)
Introduces students to systems architecture, memory and storage, computer memory and storage, computer networks, connections and protocols, network security and system software. It also looks the at ethical, legal, cultural, and environmental impacts of digital technology. Assessment will be based on multiple choice questions, short response questions and extended response questions.

Component 2 - Exam 50% (80 Marks)
Introduces students to algorithms, programming fundamentals, producing robust programs, Boolean logic, programming languages and integrated development environments. Assessment will be based on a broad set of examination style questions and problem-solving tasks.

Practical Programming (Not assessed)
Students are 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 within the component 02 assessment.

Pathways for Computer Science

Below are some of the careers you can pursue with qualifications in Computer Science:

• Software Engineer
• Cybersecurity Analyst
• Database Analyst
• Java Programmer
• Network Engineer
• Technical Support Engineer
• Technical Helpdesk Analyst
• Test Development Engineer
• Web Developer

Curriculum Plans
Curriculum plans for Computer Science can be viewed from the links below.