Member of Staff |
Areas Taught |
Mr
P. Cummings - Head of Department |
Year 9
GCSE
A Level |
Mr
C. Bretherton |
Year
11 GCSE |
Mrs
M. Appleton |
Lower
School |
The I.C.T. resources of the school are increasing
each year. There is one main computer room which
has a computer for each pupil and a second room shared
by Science and I.C.T. The computers are upgraded
on a regular basis and run Microsoft Office as standard
with a variety of subject specific software. The main room is heavily used from 8 o'clock in the
morning onwards! Before school starts pupils
are using the room for finishing off homework or printing
it off, or using some of the other facilities. During
the day the room is used by various subjects. More
details can be found under 'Cross
Curricular I.C.T.'
The second computer room has been designed to assist
with data logging in Science. Work done on the
central benches in the room can easily be connected
to computers around the outside of the room. The
room is also used by the Music department which is
located just below it. As well as this it also
functions as a very good general purpose computer room
which is used by a variety of subjects.
Lower School I.C.T.
In years 7 and 8 all pupils get one lesson of I.C.T.
a week. Currently the year 9 lessons alternates
with a careers lesson. A considerable investment
has been made in a complete software package for schools
by 'Leafline'. This consists of a number of themes
which are tackled throughout the year. A typical
opening page can be seen by clicking here. It
can be seen that at the top there are a number of links
(disabled here) which will give the pupil more detail
about the topic, with examples. In the store
they can find relevant clipart and internet links. If
they are uncertain how to use a particular software
package they can click on 'skills' and have a multimedia
presentation on how to use the package.
GCSE Information Technology
We use the AQA Syllabus A and offer both Short GCSE
I.T. (combining with Design Technology), and Full Course
GCSE I.T.
The examination is 60% coursework and 40% theory. There
is an assignment set by AQA which involves 4 or 5 separate
tasks, using a variety of software. The pupils
take on the role of an I.T. consultant. For the
Full Course pupils also have to produce a project of
their own choice, again using I.T. in a 'real world'
scenario.
Cross
Curricular I.C.T.
I.C.T. is used by a variety of subjects, either in
the department/ classroom or by taking classes to one
of the two computer rooms. Classes using the
computer rooms include
-
English
for drafting written work.
-
Mathematics
using SMILE
or DLK in the lower school, with Autograph in the
middle and upper school.
-
Religious
Studies for research and preparation of PowerPoint
presentations by the pupils.
-
Science
for a variety of reasons, including research
and presentation/ write ups of experiments
-
Art,
looking at various pictures stored on CD.
-
History
for research.
-
Business
Studies for research and writing up.
-
Economics
for research and writing up.
-
Geography,
looking at weather.
-
Modern
Foreign Languages, using the Internet and Word
Processor.
-
Music
for composing using Sibelius software.
-
Psychology
for research.
-
Design
Technology for Computer Aided Design work and planning
of electronic circuits and printed circuit boards.
In the classrooms
staff are also using I.C.T. Some subjects have a
number of computers in their rooms. Some have
recently invested in laptop computers and projectors
and are using these for PowerPoint presentations
in their classrooms. Geography is recording
weather conditions and forwarding the results as
part of a national scheme. Biology students
can see what is happening under the microscope projected
on to a whiteboard. Art has recently purchased
a new computer with a scanner and colour printer. They
look after the school digital camera and some students
are using this for their work.
As just
mentioned the school has a digital camera which is
used by staff and students. It has been taken
on a number of field trip together with a laptop
computer. Photographs were taken during the
day and e-mailed back to the school, where they appeared
on the Intranet the following day. There is
also a digital video camera which has been used by
the P.E. / games department for analysing the movement
of athletes for example.
As with all A Level subjects the Subject is offered
at AS Level in Year 12 and A2 Level in Year 13.
As Specification
Unit 1
35% of the
total AS mark. 1½ hour
examination
The
contents of this module include:
Computer
systems
Programming
Information
and Data Representation
Communication
and Networking
Unit 2
35% of the total AS Mark 1½ hour
examination
The
contents of this module include:
Applications
and Effects
Files
and databases
Operating
Systems
Hardware
Devices
Unit 3
30% of the total AS mark Externally
assessed Practical Exercise
A
Practical Exercise will be set by AQA and published
each year in the
Specification document (see Sections 18 - 20). The
Exercise will be different each year but will always
be based on the content of Modules
1, 2 and 3. The Exercise will require candidates
to demonstrate at least two of the skills of:
-
analysing
-
designing
-
implementing
-
testing
-
evaluating
using
appropriate software. This module will be tested
in Unit 3, a written
paper marked by AQA. Further details can be found
in Sections 18 – 20 and on the Specimen Paper
for Unit 3.
A2
Specification
Unit 4
15% of the total A Level marks 1½ hour
examination
The
contents of this module include further detail on:
Machine
Level Structure
Programming
Concepts
Machine
operation and Assembly Language
Data
Representation in Computers
Operating
Systems
Unit 5
15% of the total A Level marks 1½ hour
examination
The
contents of this module include further details on:
Applications
and Effects
Files
and databases
Systems
Development
Hardware
Devices
Networking
Unit 6
20% of the total A Level marks
The
centre-assessed Project enables a candidate to demonstrate
the ability
of drawing together knowledge, understanding and
skills from all areas of the specification. In particular
the Project will test the skills
of analysing, designing, implementing, testing and
evaluating systems in undertaking a task, in depth,
over an extended period of time.
It involves the organisation and presentation of
a report that summarises
the work carried out, including an evaluation of
this work by
the candidate. The Project report should be about
4000 words in length.
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