Computer Science is an incredibly important subject, one that has deep-rooted connections with many other disciplines that are studied at school. This includes Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Business, to name a few.

The study of Computer Science does not only just look at how a computer operates, but how we use computers to perform various tasks in our everyday lives; both at home and in a professional capacity.

Computer Science helps students develop a deep understanding (building on knowledge and skills) of the fundamental principles & concepts involved in computing. The skills developed through the course provide an excellent foundation for any students wishing to work in any Computer Science vocation or undertake higher level study in Computer Science disciplines. These also have very direct and transferable links into the everyday world.

Throughout the course there are many opportunities for students to reflect on and assess their own work. Formative assessments take place throughout, at the end of each of the 14 topics. The data gathered from these assessments is used to inform the focus for future lessons & revision sessions, as well as homework tasks.

Students embarking on the course need very good maths skills, to be able to think critically, and ideally will have some prior knowledge of coding.

The Computer Science course allows students to:

  • Develop practical and theoretical skills
  • Applying these skills to key problem-solving tasks, producing algorithms to solve problems.
  • Understand the key components that make up digital systems, how they communicate and how ethics & legislation play a part.
  • To make reasoned judgements, designing, programming, evaluating and refining solutions.
  • Use a range of software design techniques such as flowcharts, pseudocode and visualisation diagrams
  • 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.