The Computing Department offers a varied and challenging curriculum for our Senior School students, with students from Upper 3 (Year 7) to Upper 4 (Year 9) enjoying at least one Computing lesson each week.
The main focus over the last year has been the continued development of our 3-strand curriculum, with girls studying Coding & Programming, ICT Skills and Digital Literacy.
Students study a wide and varied curriculum from U3 through to U4. Younger students have the opportunity to study Animation, The Inside of a Computer, Spreadsheet Manipulation and they use Tynker, an Online Learning System, to help them understand the basics of Coding and Programming.
We then progress to Cyber Security, Ciphers, Code Breaking, Binary and Computer Viruses before the older students start to focus on The History of Gaming, Cyber Security, Algorithms and Careers in Technology. We have a range of visiting speakers coming in to talk with our girls and open their minds to a range of vocations available to them, and the progressions that women are making in the Tech Industry. Positive role models are incredibly important to us and we focus on inspirational figures.
Whilst all this is happening, all students have a strong focus on Digital Literacy. Students have lessons regarding many aspects of Online Safety, as well as their Online Reputation, Plagiarism, Copyright, Privacy Settings and moral / ethical uses of the Internet.
All students have access to three computer rooms, with up-to-date PCs connected to the school’s LAN (local area network). In addition, there is a bank of laptop computers which have wireless connections to the school’s network and can be used anywhere on the school site. In addition to this, students also have access to a bank of iPads. Each department has its own computers running specialist software. White boards and projectors can be found in laboratories and classrooms throughout the school. We update our computer systems each year so that our students have high quality technology at their fingertips.
We use Office365 which allows our students to access their work across a range of devices both in and outside school. Every student is allocated file space on the network servers in which to store her schoolwork. The network also provides internet access with external email and the internet. All users are expected to act responsibly; every student signs an Acceptable User Policy and staff provide tutorials for students and parents on safe use of the internet.
GCSE
We offer GCSE Computing with OCR. This course enables students to learn about the fundamentals of computer systems, computing hardware, software, representation of data in computer systems, databases, computer communications, networking and programming.
Our girls will also have a range of guest speakers on the course, with the aim of educating and encouraging in relation to a career in Technology and the options available to them.
Useful Links
code.org
codecademy
Tynker
code.org
Common Sense Media
UK Safer Internet Centre
Think U Know
The Barefoot Project
Computing at School
BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT
The Tech Partnership
