The Computer Science curriculum at Lea Manor High School offers pupils the opportunity to develop their understanding and application of the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, algorithms, and data representation. It also ensures that pupils can analyse problems in computational terms and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems. The curriculum gives opportunities for pupils to evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, and teaches pupils to analytically solve problems. Our curriculum develops pupils to become  responsible, competent, confident, and creative users of information and communication technology. All pupils have the opportunity to study computing in Key Stage 4, where they are taught to develop their capability, creativity, and knowledge in computer science, digital media, and information technology, develop and apply their analytic, problem-solving, design, and computational thinking skills and understand how changes in technology affect safety, including new ways to protect their online privacy and identity, and how to identify and report a range of concerns.

Our curriculum intent is:

• Coherently planned and sequenced to ensure that our curriculum meets the needs of all of our learners.
• Offer a breadth of activities at KS3 that is sequential in leading to study GCSE at KS4; all students will be stretched and challenged over 5 years, taking into account different starting points.
• Develop effective literacy and numeracy skills through the use of digital technology, creating learners who are confident and competent readers, writers and speakers, with essential analytical skills needed for subject success and future life.
• Embed a range of wider opportunities and experiences for all, to ensure our learners have an educational experience that is rich and varied.
• Encompass the whole school core values through the Computing and ICT curriculum.
  
  

As a result, the Computing curriculum will:

• Support our pupils to become independent and confident users of technology in a rapidly changing digital world.
• Ensure that pupils develop computational thinking and programming skills to enable them to have a positive approach to a real-world problems.
• Allow pupils to develop transferable skills in both ICT and computing, including the ability to program in various languages, and use of a wide range of hardware and software and devices.
• Challenge pupils to create high quality digital products and take pride in demonstrating their skills and creativity.
• Ensure pupils consider their digital footprint, the impact of their digital presence and the robustness and accuracy of information found online.
• Encourage a culture of resilience where learning from failure is the key to success.
• Develop skill sets that are a mixture of Learning how to use software and how ICT fits into the real world, Creative ICT, and Technical Programming to develop computational thinkers.
• Enable pupils to operate in the 21st century workplace, to know the career opportunities that will be open to them if they study ICT and computing.
• Ensure pupils are challenged and stretched by developing their leadership, organisation, resilience, initiative and communication skills in order to provide foundations for every aspect of school life.

The computer Science curriculum at LMHS is balanced and comprehensive to equip pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills for further study in the subject, it raises aspirations through its insights into different career paths and fields within Computing and Computer Science and contributes to the social mobility of pupils. By the time they leave, pupils will have gained key knowledge and skills in the three main areas of the computing curriculum: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. Pupils will have a greater understanding of ICT and basic computational thinking skills. Whether they study the subject further or not they are knowledgeable, competent and confident users of technology using it safely and respectfully.

The computer science curriculum provides a broad and coherent curriculum which we hope is engaging and enjoyable. All pupils at KS3 have a 1-hour timetabled session. At KS4 pupils are given the option to continue with their learning and work towards achieving a GCSE in Computer Science. 

Assessment at the examination stage takes place through a variety of tasks. There is always an exam styled assessment at the end of the topic, giving pupils an opportunity to reflect on their progress and receive support on how to improve. There will be an emphasis on developing literacy linked to computer science to support students in acquiring the skills needed for the extended writing questions. GCSE exams will be taken at the end of Year 11. There are 2 written examinations, these will be used to grade them on their knowledge and application of the subject.

The Computer Science curriculum at LMHS equips pupils with the knowledge, understanding and skills for further study in the subject, it raises aspirations through its insights into different career paths and fields within Computing and Computer Science and contributes to the social mobility of pupils. By the time they leave, pupils will have gained key knowledge and skills in the three main areas of the computing curriculum: computer science, information technology and digital literacy. Pupils will have a greater understanding of ICT and basic computational thinking skills. Whether they study the subject further or not they are knowledgeable, competent and confident users of technology using it safely and respectfully.

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding and application of the key concepts and principles of Computer Science

• Understand and fundamental principles and concepts of Computer Science
• Be able to apply key algorithms and data representation and mathematical skills through practical and theoretical work.
• Understand the key components that make up digital systems and how they communicate
• Understand the impacts of digital technology to the individual, wider society, the ethical changes and cultural impacts as well as the positive and negative impacts digital technology has had on the environment
• To equip learners with a range of creative media skills and provide opportunities to develop, in context, desirable, transferable skills in areas such as research, planning and evaluation

To design, program, evaluate and refine solutions.

• Plan and develop software using the software design life cycle
• Use a range of software design techniques such as flowcharts, pseudocode and visualisation diagrams
• Develop key problem solving skills of Abstraction, Decomposition and Algorithmic thinking
• Develop key skills and practical experience in script based programming languages and be able to design, write and debug programs to solve non simplistic problems
• To be able to think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically when solving problems
• Be able to make informed decisions on appropriate and efficient coding techniques such as sequence, selection, iteration and the use of functions
• To be able to design, Program, evaluate and refine solutions to problems

Learning is assessed in some of the following ways in lessons: 

• Mini white boards
• Think pair share
• Hands down rule, teacher selects a pupil
• Teacher questioning to assess understanding
• Exam questions 
• Low stakes testing
• Retrieval practice in do now tasks and exam questions
• Weekly extended writing tasks which are self/peer marked
• A range of digital platforms are used to assess student outcomes. Analytics are used to identify strengths and weaknesses
• Teacher marking of extended writing pieces; this happens every two weeks.
• Formal end of topic test completed regularly; these are teacher marked.
• Self-marking and peer-marking is embedded into lessons.
• Rag rating pupil answers based on mark scheme answers given in the classroom.

Assessments are used to evaluate and monitor pupil understanding and progress in the classroom. Year 10s will sit PPEs at the end of year 10 and Year 11s will sit PPEs in November, January, February and March.

Curriculum impact is assessed in the following ways:   

• Pupil outcomes  
• Learning walks and Lesson monitoring   
• Work scrutiny (including student voice)  
• Student engagement in the curriculum (attitude to learning and behaviour tracking)  
• Report data   
• Meeting minutes (Department) and line management meetings with subject leaders  
• Uptake at KS4  
• Extra-curricular attendance 
• Uptake on non lesson based initiatives  
• Stem participation
• Cross Trust Events and competitions
• Uptake of Computer Science post Lea Manor

Modelling Data using Spreadsheets

Systems Architecture 

Programming with Python

Memory and Storage/Networks

Programming with Python

Network connections and protocols

Programming with Python

Network Security/Ethics

Programming with Python

System Software/Ethics

Programming with Python

Database and SQL

Programming with Python

Data structures and Algorithms

Programming with Python

Programming Languages

Programming with Python