Welcome to ICT!
“I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code”
Anon
To err is human – and to blame it on a computer is even more so.
Robert Orben
Why study ICT?
ICT is the present and the future for our students. ICT skills are an essential part of the modern student’s survival kit. A sound understanding of basic concepts for business applications like word processing, presentations, spreadsheets and databases, along with an appreciation of online technologies will set a student up for life, as she will be able to grow and adapt her skills as technology changes. No area of life remains untouched by ICT and the current generation and those that follow need the structure that school ICT provides to complement the skills that they acquire organically as part of their everyday life.
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 ICT builds on the foundations established in primary school, developing generic planning and evaluation skills alongside more subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding. It provides an excellent platform for the development of personal, learning and thinking skills, with students being encouraged to take part in group work, for example. Using a variety of learning styles, students experience a range of different, practical mini-project based activities giving them access to packages as diverse as control, animation, web design and spreadsheets. It’s an excellent preparation for Key Stage 4 ICT.
Key Stage 4
At Key Stage 4, students study the OCR Nationals in ICT. Students who take core ICT will study for the equivalent of 1 GCSE in ICT. The coursework is entirely practically based, with the completion of coursework portfolios to showcase talent and achievement. The course is currently undergoing change, but expect to learn ICT skills for business and web-related skills. Students who really enjoy ICT can choose optional ICT in year 10. This allows them to aim for an extended award (up to the equivalent of 3 GCSEs) using a range of different applications.
Post -16
From 2010, students will be able to study either the AQA A level ICT (single award) or the BTEC IT (double award – equivalent to 2 A levels). A level ICT suits students who enjoy learning more about the theory behind ICT and like the special challenge of exams. As well as traditional exams, in Year 12, ICT coursework is prepared in advance and then take it into the exam and you are examined on it, whilst in year 13, there is a more traditional coursework project. A level ICT complements more academic subjects. The BTEC will involve the study of several units, with a strong practical and work-based bias. All assessment is by coursework portfolio. Areas of study include a hands-on unit on computer hardware in which you will learn how a desk computer works. BTEC IT complements more vocational subjects.
Beyond…..
During the last 2 years, year 10 students have attended animation workshops at the National Media Museum. Last year, Year 9 visited Odsal Stadium to contribute to the production of a mediascape. ICT is used extensively across the curriculum, for every subject area, in different ways. This could be whole class work on a whiteboard in Maths, or individual research in Spanish or History. ICT has played a major part in our students’ success in Science 4U and Solutions for the Planet, with students using their ICT skills to prepare effective multimedia presentations. This year, our year 7 cross curricular ICT has made good use of ICT for research, presentations, movies, web design and voice recording.
