Introduction

The school has excellent facilities including a dedicated Computing teaching room.  All classrooms have access to  computer facilities and each is equipped with a projector and colour printer.

All workstations are networked, running Windows 7, Office 2010 and a wide variety of the latest software applications. Every machine has access to the internet, which is filtered and audited.

Computing in the Curriculum

All students in Years 7 - 11 have lessons in Computing. In Years 7 and 8 these develop and extend their basic skills and increase their understanding of the appropriate uses of computers.

In Year 9, students begin a project based approach to Computing, in order to develop their skills to solve problems and meet specific needs.

In Years 10 and 11, all students take the BTEC First in ICT, which enables them to achieve up to 1 GCSE equivalent qualification. In addition to taking a and ECDL Computer Driving License in Year 10. ICT is also widely used in the teaching of other subjects in the curriculum.

Year 7 and 8 work covered:

• Accessing websites, using search engines and checking for accuracy/bias; searching for and selecting relevant information for a given audience;
• Presenting Information for different audiences using a variety of software packages, including PowerPoint, Publisher and Word
• Designing a simple spreadsheet, making predictions and drawing graphs. Setting up and searching a database

Year 9 work covered:

• Creating and using a database and spreadsheet model in the context of problem solving
• Analysing data, judging its reliability and evaluating its presentation
• Understanding the uses of control systems and how to write system instructions Introduction to programming

Year 10 and 11 work covered:

BTEC Firsts in ICT. Units in developing ICT skills for business, computer graphics, web design, multimedia and system design.

Students also prepare for their ECDL examination, which assesses their ability to use ICT in a range of work related applications.