Computer Science & ICT - Bristol Metropolitan Academy

In response to a new National Curriculum for Computing in Secondary Schools, the department has rebranded to what is now called Computer Science and ICT.

KS3

The department has advanced from teaching KS3 students just ICT to both Computer Science and ICT. KS3 students learn a wide range of computing skills through varied units of study, starting from the basic skills required to operate different software and leading up to the knowledge required for programming using both visual and text based programming languages.

There is a huge increase in the emphasis of students to develop computational thinking and logical reasoning skills. Students will be taught and given tasks to help build upon these skills; these are additionally beneficial attributes to acquire for other subjects. With the wide growing level of computerised products available, students will be given in depth teaching on eSafety.

Students will be encouraged to work at their Age Related Expectations and also given opportunities to further deepen their knowledge. Common assessments throughout the federation will be administered to allow students to be tested against their Age Related Expectations.

The course will be taught using varied teaching styles, leading to students understanding the way computers function, how they process data and why a binary number system is used. Furthermore they will develop the skills to create, design and program algorithms.

KS4

In Year 10, the OCR GCSE Computer Science course is offered to the students. This course expands on the knowledge base built in KS3. Topics are taught in greater detail and students advance upon the skills that are needed to programme different products and gain a deeper understanding of the topics taught.

Students will be taught to develop their capability and creativity in computer science and be able to apply their problem solving, analytical and computational thinking skills.

The software that are used in the course to learn programming, are well known software that are used by skilled professionals in industry. This allows for our students to be have attained sufficient experience and practice to take this subject for A Levels and beyond. Computer Science links well to several career prospects such as those wishing to pursue a career in programming, engineering as well as those wanting to work within the digital and IT industry.