Today’s students use computers as an essential and ever-present part of their life. The move to provide computing as a subject for all students has been a more recent development in the national curriculum.

At Tomlinscote School we aim to give all students a solid theoretical and practical understanding of computing technology and its role in almost every area of their lives. All students will also gain an understanding and experience of programming using a range of languages which include Swift, Scratch and Python.

Statement of Curriculum Intent

Key Stage 3

At KS3 many students arrive with limited knowledge or experience of Computing. Starting with the exploration of the devices and systems that dominate their world, students quickly gain a knowledge of how these devices work and what components they consist of. With a focus on programming and computational thinking skills, students’ progress from using the visual programming languages Swift and Scratch to the use of industry-standard high-level language Python. Theory topics such as cyber security, artificial intelligence, the safe use of computers and the law regarding computer usage are studied to prepare the students with valuable life skills. As well as programming, other practical topics such as using word processors and spreadsheets and building web pages using HTML will further enhance their digital literacy.

Key Stage 4

At KS4 students are offered the option of taking GCSE Computer Science. Students will have gained a solid foundation at KS3 from which they can progress.

Computer Science students will comprehend the importance of computing within the world of technology. Like Mathematics, Computer Science underpins a large range of subjects and has concepts and ways of working that have not changed that quickly over time, including programming, algorithms and data structures.

A key skill that is developed is ‘computational thinking’ and this offers insightful ways to view how information operates in many natural and engineered systems. Another core skill in Computer Science is computer programming which while seeming esoteric, is the closest that a student can come to thinking about thinking. It develops logic and problem solving which had led to Computer Science becoming a staple within the world of technology and inspiration of future ideas.

The GCSE in Computer Science explores how computer systems work and how data is represented, protected, communicated and stored. There is a heavy focus on Python programming with practical work that will be completed regularly throughout the entire course to help to embed key concepts.

This means:

• They will develop important problem-solving skills that can be applied to a wide array of subjects through algorithmic and computational thinking.
• They will be given opportunities to develop their own piece of software demonstrating a wide array of programming techniques and cross language constructs along with the skill to conduct adequate testing.
• Through understanding binary, they will learn how computers are able to represent digital characters, images and sound files; whilst also being able to demonstrate a use of key compression techniques.
• They will gather an understanding of how a computer system is assembled, the hardware that it is made up of and how in conjunction with software it can complete end user tasks that we take for granted.
• They will learn about why networks are so fundamental in a world of digital information sharing, as well as the hardware and protocols needed to achieve this to provide the communication capabilities we rely on.
• They will gain and understanding of the growing importance of cyber security in the digital world and the measures needed to help keep systems and data safe from the endless stream of cyber threats.
• They will learn about relational databases and structured query language, which underpin the global capability to store and retrieve data/information, that we have come to rely on almost all our everyday tasks.