Computer Science
What we will do:
The Twickenham School Computer Science Department will follow the whole school policy for curriculum provision. In addition to this, the computer science department will also:
The key concepts of computational thinking – for example, thought process, abstraction, decomposition, algorithmic thinking, evaluation and generalisation – are embedded throughout the course.
By teaching the broader principles of computing – for example, binary, iteration in programming and computer architecture, we will be developing students’ computational thinking abilities. And, by developing students’ computational thinking abilities, we will provide them with the problem solving tools to approach programming tasks with confidence and to make the outcomes meaningful. We have therefore selected programming languages appropriate to the task and which facilitate teaching the concepts, rather than teaching a range of languages.
Specialist teaching
Key Stage 3
For years 7 to 9 students are taught as a carousel amongst two other subjects and each complete one full term of computer science taught by a Computer Science teacher
Twickenham School Computer Science Department delivers key stage 3 across three years in years 7, 8 and 9. The curriculum fully complies with the national curriculum and is sequenced to ensure that topics are delivered in a logical way in order to develop students’ knowledge and skills. The curriculum is also being developed to ensure early introduction on knowledge and skills relevant to GCSE Computer Science, for example, by introducing some of the programming language such as python.
Year 7 - Introduction to Scratch Programming – learning to
- Remember how to input values into scratch, where our inputs are stored and how to output values onto the screen
- Remember how computers store data
- Remember how computers make decisions
- Understand how computers may use more than 1 variable
- Understand how operators work in scratch
- Understand the hardware and software components that make up computer systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems
Year 8 – The students in Y8 will learn the binary system
- Understand the binary number system
- Understand how to add binary number together
- Understand that computers ONLY KNOW BINARY
- Understand that in a computer system, characters are represented by binary numbers
- Introduction to Python – students learn to
- what know Python is
- how to program outputs in python,
- how to program inputs in python,
- the need to store inputs and inputs into variables in python
Year 9 – Students will learn to understand computer networks by
- Understand what a network is
- Understand what advantages and disadvantages networking brings
- Understand the devices needed to produce a computer network
- Understand the difference between a LAN and a WAN
- Understand what the internet actually is
- Understand how data travels around the internet
Build on Python skills by
- Revise how programs make decisions
- Revise how to program IF statements
- Understand how to program multiple IF Statements
- Understand what a loop is in a program and where we may use one each time we go on the computer.
- Understand how to program a while loop in program
Key Stage 4
|
Year |
Autumn 1 |
Autumn 2 |
Spring 1 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 1 |
Summer 2 |
|
10 |
Problem Solving Describe what an Algorithm is and what they are used for Express Algorithms as Flowcharts and Pseudo code Decomposition and Abstraction
|
Programming Explain the difference between Algorithms and programs Code an Algorithm in a High level language Describe the characteristics of data types Use Sequence, Selection and Iteration |
Data Explain why computers use Binary to represent data and program instructions Describe how computers represent and manipulate numbers Convert between Binary and Denary whole numbers 0-255 |
Computers Describe the Input – Process – Output model Describe the function of Hardware components of a computer system Construct Truth tables for a given Logic statement |
Communication Describe the different types of Networks and usage models Describe the characteristics of Network topology: Star Bus Mesh Describe why Network security is important Describe what the internet is and how it is structured |
Big picture Explain how the manufacture use and disposal of computing technology damages the environment Explain why computing technology poses a threat to privacy
|
|
11 |
NEA |
NEA |
Problem solving Programming Data |
Computers Communication Big Picture |
Revision |
|
