Computer Science

KS3

Computer Science is available as an optional, Computer Club activity in Years 7, 8 and 9.

The emphasis is on practical, confidence-building activities where students make the transition from drag and drop, scratch style programming to textual programming in a variety of languages including Python, Ruby and Lua. Students learn how to build games, make music, draw pictures and control physical devices using code. Students have an element of choice in which topics are covered. Topics include:

• Drawing shapes with Python Turtle

• Using Micropython to control BBC Microbits

• Composing music with Sonic Pi

• PRIMM activities with simple arcade games in Python Pygame

KS4

GCSE Computer Science is an option. We offer the OCR J277 specification.

Students study the Computer Systems material in Year 10 and the Algebra and Programming material in Year 11.

Practical activities take place alongside theory teaching in order to cover the practical programming requirements of the course. These include:

• Collaborative text adventure in Python

• Writing simple arcade games with Defold

• Python programming challenges