At KS3 students develop and build upon the ICT skills learnt at KS2. Students cover the fundamental ICT skills needed for cross-curricular work in Years 7, 8 and 9 combined with a study of ICT / Computing as a subject for those wishing to study the subject at a higher level (GCSE or IB level). All students are encouraged to assess and monitor their own ICT skill level through an ICT capability progress check.
Students are assessed on four main generic areas in ICT at KS3. These areas are:
• Finding things out
• Developing ideas
• Communicating information
• Evaluating
Year 7 ICT Curriculum Summary
| Finding things out | students consider the usefulness, provenance, and reliability of the information they collect and use from the Internet |
| Developing ideas | students learn how to use spreadsheet software to produce simple business models and how to use Flowol to control and simulate real life situations |
| Communicating information | students use word processing, desktop publishing (publisher) and multi-media software (photostory / powerpoint / movie maker) to communicate information to a specified audience |
| Evaluating | students learn how to evaluate and review each piece of work they complete |
Year 8 ICT Curriculum Summary
| Finding things out | Students use scripting languages (Hypertext Markup Language and JavaScript) and sophisticated web design software (Dreamweaver CS3) to develop web pages for the Internet. They are introduced to simple web animation techniques using Fireworks and Flash. They develop their database skills including how to produce forms, reports and queries using Access. |
| Developing ideas |
| Communicating information |
| Evaluating | students build on the evaluation skills learnt in Year 7 and continue to develop their evaluative and review skills for each piece of work they complete |
Year 9 ICT Curriculum Summary
| Finding things out | Students will plan and manage an ICT project from start to end, using appropriate software to design and create solutions for a business scenario. Students will build an e-portfolio using web software to present all work completed throughout the year and use the principles of the system development life cycle to analyse, design, build, test and evaluate the ICT systems they produce. Students are expected to adhere to copyright and plagiarism laws and correctly source all data used in their project. |
| Developing ideas |
| Communicating information |
| Evaluating |
Students who successfully complete all the coursework and meet all deadlines set throughout the Year 9 ICT course will be put forward for the Level 1 Using ICT AiDA (Award in Digital Applications) qualification.