Computing KS3

Internet Safety
Students will investigate the importance of being safe online.

Micro:bit
Students will create programs using the Micro:bit website and download these programs onto the Micro:bit. Students will create a number of programs including digital dice, Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Magic 8.

Bebras Computer Competition
All students will compete in this national competition against other schools.

Binary
Students will understand how a computer can only understand binary. Students will undertake activities resulting in them converting binary to decimal and vice versa, binary addition and ASCII.

Computer Systems
Students will cover how a computer works looking at the hardware and software used in computer networks.

Scratch
Students will cover a 6 week unit with an introduction to the programming features in Scratch. They then progress to planning and developing their own game, learning to incorporate variables, conditional statements, loops and procedures.

Heroes of Computing
Students will undertake a project where they will research the heroes of computing, produce a questionnaire and Magazine cover in Photoshop

Internet Safety
Students will revisit the importance of being safe online.

Advanced Scratch
Students will look at the advanced features of programming in Scratch to develop their understanding of computer coding.

Bebras Computer Competition
All students will compete in this national competition against other schools.

Digital Animation
Students will learn how animations are created and use a variety of drawing and animation techniques including tweening and motion paths in order to plan, create and export a multilayered animation into a format that can played as a standalone file or as a moving image within a web page.

Back to the future
Students will learn about computing pioneers and conduct activities such as problem solving, code breaking and Boolean logic.

Flowol
Students will complete a practical unit covering the principles of producing control and monitoring solutions using Flowol, a flowchart-based interface.

Python
Students will be introduced to Python, a powerful but easy to use high-level programming language. Students will understand the process of developing programs, the importance of writing correct syntax and will create algorithms for simple programs.

Internet Safety
Students will revisit the importance of being safe online.

Python
Students will revisit the basic skills already covered in year 8. Students will then use conditional statements, For loops and While Loops. Students will learn about the benefits of using procedures and functions with parameters when programming.

Bebras Computer Competition
All students will compete in this national competition against other schools.

Digital Animation
Students will learn how animations are created and use a variety of drawing and animation techniques including tweening and motion paths in order to plan, create and export a multilayered animation into a format that can played as a standalone file or as a moving image within a web page.

Web Design
Students will design and develop a website for a given purpose. Students will learn the basics of HTML and CSS. They will learn how to create text styles and add content, including text and graphics.

Computer Crime and Cyber Security
Students will learn some of the legal safeguards regarding computer use, including overviews of the Computer Misuse Act, Data Protection Act and Copyright Law and their implications for computer use. Phishing scams and hacking are discussed with ways of protecting online identity and privacy.

Advanced Flowol
Students will complete a practical unit covering the principles of producing advanced control and monitoring solutions using Flowol.

Students will have a topic assessment at the end of every half term and their progress will be mapped against their end of year and end of KS3 target which is monitored regularly. Specific, individual targets for improvement are given throughout the year to raise achievement.

The ICT classrooms are available within the department at lunch time and after school to allow students to gain additional help and guidance and also continue with their practical work.  We also encourage all students to explore and develop their ICT and computing skills at home.

Students are able to download the free Scratch programming software for use at home from: http://scratch.mit.edu/scratch2download/

Students are also able to download the Python 3.4 programming software for free from: https://www.python.org/download

Students can access support and revision materials from: www.teach-ict.com