At KEY STAGE 3 (years 7, 8 and 9) pupils follow the National Framework for ICT that was launched by the Government in September 2002. (Schemes of work are already being written for the New Secondary Curriculum Programmes of Study and teaching of these will start in September 2008).

In years 7 and 8 pupils develop their ICT capabilities in areas such as wordprocessing, simple web design, and using spreadsheets for modelling and making predictions.

In year 9 the areas that are developed include using databases, using presentation software and using the Internet for research and communication (e-mail).

At KEY STAGE 4 (years 10 and 11) we now offer both tiers the new online qualification from EDEXCEL.

Tier 1 CIDA level 2
CIDA stands for Certificate in Digital Applications. This is a BTEC course that is worth the equivalent of two GCSEs. Level 2 allows for achievement up to and including the equivalent of A* at GCSE. The course is wholly practical with no exam at the end. Instead pupils produce an e-portfolio of evidence to show what they have achieved. This is like a small website with hyperlinks that allow the examiner to navigate around the work when marking it. The work is sent to the examiner on CD-ROM. No paper is sent to or received from the exam board.

Tier 2 CIDA level 1
This Certificate in Digital Applications is similar to the level 2 CIDA except that it is less demanding than level 2 and, consequently, has a maximum achievable grade of a C equivalent.

Both CIDA courses are administered by the EDEXCEL exam board. Click here for more details from EDEXCEL.

At post 16 we offer AS and A2 ICT. At present we are following the OCR specification. However it is probable that we will change to the EDEXCEL Applied ICT specification in September 2008.

We have also introduced AS Computing for the first time this year. This course has proved popular and we are looking forward to taking it on to A2 next year.

Last updated 15/2/08