For students on the Futures Institute Year 9 Pathway ONLY
Download the Curriculum Statement for Computer Science
Academic year 2021-22
What are we studying?
Year 9
Studying towards GCSE and A Level Computer Science
TERM 1
During the first term, students will have the opportunity to use previous knowledge with programs like Scratch or Code.org. Here we will look at python programming and start to code our own projects.
The internet is core and central to many people’s lives and as part of the programme of study, students will get the chance to examine different levels of threats to networks and social engineering. Phishing, blagging and shouldering all play a part in the threats to our data.
TERM 2
Students will have the opportunity to enter the BAFTA Young Games Designer awards for computer game design. This is the use of essential skills in computational learning – developing skills in abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition and iteration. It will introduce the concept of algorithms and basic structure of programming including sequence, selection and iteration. Python will deal with some of the basic structure in programming, binary conversion and how to think like a computer. This will provide opportunities to use graphics packages and various software programmes, including Adobe Photoshop for the design of computer game avatars. Advanced work could be on UNITY or an online website using “playcanvas” to design 3D environments.
TERM 3
The course integrates practical and theoretical design along the lines of computational thinking and practise. It enables the students to plan effectively and develop those transferable skills that are important in many other subjects and career options. Students will have the opportunity to take part in external competitions like the BAFTA Young Games Designer Awards. It allows students to build an impressive portfolio of work for the future. Animation and design play part of this segment of the course.
TERM 4
Students will have the opportunity to examine existing systems in society and assess their impact. Therefore, this will deal with ethical, social and political impact of computers in society. Students will undertake creative projects that involve selecting, using, and combining multiple applications, preferably across a range of devices, to achieve challenging goals, including collecting and analysing data and meeting the needs of known users.
TERM 5/ 6
Some of the core programming concepts will be developed and explored – System Architecture, How to build PCs and an examination of the development of technology through the ages. We will look at future technologies and how this could change the face of society in work, leisure, communication, education and more.
Students will complete work on computer systems and will be introduced to the CPU, computer memory and storage. This will be a foundation course with essentials being covered in elements of a computer system, including input, output and processing. They will also have the opportunity to build and program robots to enter a national competition and compete against other schools in the region. We will look at the BBC Micro:BIT technology and have the opportunity to code.
Hands-on coding with Python and C#. Those who are interested will be able to try their hand at web design with HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Year 10 and Year 11 students at Futures Institute
Please see the Computer Science page on the Futures Institute website.
WEBSITES
https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/computer-science-and-it/gcse/computer-science-8520
https://www.python.org/
https://www.w3schools.com/
https://technovationchallenge.org/
https://unity.com
CONTACT DETAILS
Teacher of Computer Science: Erika Rhodes
erhodes@wykhampark-aspirations.org
THE COMPUTER SCIENCE TOOLBOX
- Remove information that is not needed.
- Break the problem down into chunks you can manage.
- Identify patterns of repetition.
- Accept failure: it is an essential part of learning.
KEY VOCABULARY
- Abstraction
- Decomposition
- Pattern Recognition
- Iteration
- Selection
- Comparison
- Algorithm
Should you have any other questions or want to find out more, please contact Shileen Green, Vice Principal on: sgreen@wykhampark-aspirations.