Computing/ICT Blog

Here you will find all the latest ICT News, Examples of student work and interesting facts.

Spring Term

Key Stage 3

Group D - are looking at Algorithms and Flowcharts and how these can be used to plan a programming project.

Group E - are looking at hardware and software and how they work individually and together.

Group F - are looking at Spreadsheets and how to use simple formulas to produce a working spreadsheet that can be used in various situations

Key Stage 4

This Term the students in KS 4 will be working towards their Functional Skills Qualifications:

Group A - are working towards Functional Skills and BTech Qualifications and are at various stages of learning and therefore their work is diversified to suit their individual needs. Therefore they are working on a mixture of Office skills preparing them for their upcoming exams.

Groups B and C - are starting to work towards the New Digital Functional Skills Qualification.

About the Qualifications From Pearson:

Qualification aims and outcomes

The Pearson Edexcel Digital Functional Skills Qualification at Entry Level 3 will enable learners to initiate and participate in digital and online activities safely in the workplace and other real-life contexts. At this level, Digital Functional Skills qualifications should:

enable learners to gain confidence and fluency in their use of digital knowledge and skills, and develop a positive attitude towards the use of digital skills.
enable learners to develop an appreciation of the importance of digital skills in the workplace and in life generally
enable learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by applying these to complete tasks and activities
provide a basis for further study, work and life.

The Pearson Edexcel Digital Functional Skills Qualification at Level 1 will enable learners to initiate and participate in digital and online activities safely in the workplace and in other real-life contexts. At this level, Digital Functional Skills qualifications should:

enable learners to increase their confidence and fluency in their use of digital knowledge and skills, and develop a positive attitude towards the use of digital skills
enable learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by applying these to complete tasks and activities
introduce learners to areas of life and work which may be new or unfamiliar, and tasks and activities that they may encounter in future
enable learners to develop an appreciation of the importance of digital skills in the workplace and in life generally
provide a basis for further study, work and life.

Autumn Term

Key Stage 3

Group D - Have been looking at key personnel in computing in a project called "Heros of computing". This includes learning about the Heros and creating PowerPoints and spreadsheets to help broaden their Computing knowledge and Microsoft Office skills.

Group E - is looking at computer hardware including input, and output and will be soon looking at boolean logic.

Group F - Has been working on How to stay safe online, with a focus on Passwords, Multi-factor authentication, Phishing, Cloud Computing and Digital footprints. Moving forward they are starting to look at drag and drop style programming within Minecraft Education Edition.

Key Stage 4

This Term the students in KS 4 will be working towards their Functional Skills Qualifications:

Groups A, B and C are at various stages of learning and therefore their work is diversified to suit their individual needs. Therefore they are working on a mixture of Office skills preparing them for their upcoming exams.

Summer Term

Key Stage 3

This Term the students in KS3 will be learning about Spreadsheets where they are used what they are used for, how to create edit and format them and the use of basic formulae.

Group F is starting a project based around Harry Plotter from using spreadsheets to price up the items they need for school to using more advanced formulae to calculate/sort their OWL final results.

Group E is extending their learning about computer hardware and software from Input and Output devices to Binary code and Algorithms.

Key Stage 4

This Term the students in KS 4 will be working towards their Functional Skills Qualifications:

Group D is working on Spreadsheets, creating, editing and formatting them, and using basic to more advanced formulae.

Groups A, B and C are working on PowerPoint presentations learning and consolidating skills to meet the exam criteria.

Student Work

Autumn Term

Key Stage 3

Students have been learning how to stay safe online and Programming using Minecraft Education Edition this term.

Group F - Keeping information safe online, what makes a strong password, 2 Factor authentication, and how to identify Phishing and Scam email/messages whilst online.

Groups E and D How to have positive relationships online, how to stay safe and what to do if they need to report it.

Groups F and E have been learning about programming, coding concepts and computational thinking using Minecraft education edition using a block-based programming language.

Group D has been learning about a text-based programming language called Python also using Minecraft Education Edition. With a strong focus on Syntax, Keywords and computational thinking.

Student Example Work:

Key Stage 4

This Term students in key stage 4 have been working towards their Function Skills Qualifications.

During the first half term, we looked at consolidating skills predominantly around spreadsheets and the use of formulas relevant to students' functional skills level.

This half term we have been looking at consolidating and improving the use of Word processing in particular the use of formatting to make a document look professional, aimed at the correct audience and fit for purpose.