The Department aims to prepare all pupils for the inevitable contact they will have with using technology to exploit information in public examinations, across the curriculum, out of school and later in their lives. All pupils are expected to be familiar with computers and IT is an integral part of all subjects at GCSE and A level.

Years 7 to 10

The course is of a practical 'Hands-on' nature with an emphasis on work to support other curriculum areas. In Years 7 to 10, these are in the form of discrete ICT lessons, although other departments cover some of the topics. The course is being constantly reviewed and further amendments are planned in the near future.

Pupils are taught to become critical and largely autonomous users of ICT, aware of the ways in which ICT tools and information sources can help them in their work; understand the limitations of such tools and of the results they produce; and use the concepts associated with ICT systems and software and the associated technical terms.

Pupils are given opportunities to:

• .use ICT equipment and software autonomously;
• consider the purposes for which information is to be processed and communicated;
• use their knowledge and understanding of ICT to design information systems, and to evaluate and suggest improvements to existing systems;
• investigate problems by modelling, measuring and controlling, and by constructing ICT procedures;
• consider the limitations of ICT tools and information sources, and of the results they provide, and compare their effectiveness and efficiency with other methods of working;
• discuss some of the social, economic, ethical and moral issues raised by ICT.

Pupils are taught to:

• use a range of ICT equipment and software efficiently to create good quality presentations for particular  audiences, integrating several forms of information;
• select appropriate ICT equipment and software to fulfil their specific purposes;
• be systematic in their use of appropriate search methods to obtain accurate and relevant information from a range of sources;
• collect and amend quantitative and qualitative information for a particular purpose, and enter it into a data-handling package for processing and analysis;
• interpret, analyse and display information, checking its accuracy and questioning its plausibility.
• plan, develop, test and modify sets of instructions and procedures to control events;
• use a system that responds to data from sensors and explain how it makes use of feedback
• use ICT equipment and software to measure and record physical variables;
• explore a given model with a number of variables and create models of their own, in order to detect patterns and relationships;
• modify the rules and data of a model, and predict the effects of such changes;
• evaluate a computer model by comparing its behaviour with data gathered from a range of sources.

This course comprises both a mixture of practical ICT skills and the need for an understanding of the conceptual knowledge that enables ICT systems to operate successfully.

Exam Board – AQA- Information and Communication Technology A Syllabus.

The GCSE course is weighted as follows:

End of course written examination:          40%

Coursework Project 1:                            30%

Coursework Project 2:                            30%

The Written Paper lasts 1½ hours and comprises a variety of questions from multiple choice to one short essay. All questions are compulsory. This involves an understanding of computer hardware, a range of generic software (including good practice) and means of communicating over varying distances (LAN / WANs). The website (see below) has over 700 sample questions for students to practice on.

Coursework Project 1: This involves an Exam board set description of a situation where appropriate use of ICT will solve some of the given problems. Students will need to design, implement, test and evaluate their own solution. Recent situations have included a Garden centre, Veterinary practise and a Sweet shop.

Coursework Project 2: Pupils are required to submit a report on the solution to a problem that demonstrates their ICT capabilities. Wherever possible, students should select a problem from their own area of interest. This project tends to follow the theme of setting up an ICT system for an existing small office or shop or small club. Then they apply the uses of modern technology to that organisation from Mail Merge to Accounting, from Customer files to designing Advertisements for Newspapers or the Internet. The solution has to be fully documented.

The course builds on the pupils’ ability to communicate and handle information. This involves further in-depth study of Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Databases and Graphical Design / Presentation packages. Thus giving pupils a "hands on" experience of the uses of modern technology in the world of business and industry. The broad aims of the course are i) to show, through practical means, the advantages and disadvantages that new technology can bring. ii) To prepare our pupils for the inevitable contact they will have with computers both in and out of school and later in their lives.

	Board	AS	A2
ICT	AQA	5521	6521

Entry Qualifications and Aptitudes

Although the Exam board assumes a good GCSE pass in Information Technology as a starting point we recognise that not all students will have had an opportunity to achieve this. Therefore the entry qualification will be by two alternative routes.

Either:

a GCSE Full Course certificate in IT at Grade B Level (as recommended by the Exam board)

Or

the presentation of a mini IT coursework project (equivalent to IT GCSE grade B) by the start of the course. This will be set by the school in June and may go on to form the basis of Module 3.

Methods of Assessment & Examining

Year 12 (AS) consists of three units:

Module 1 – Information: Nature, Role and Context

Module 2 – Information: Management and Manipulation

Module 3 – Coursework

Year 13 (A2) consists of three units:

Module 4 – Information Systems in Organisations

Module 5 – Information: Policy, Strategy and Systems

Module 6 – Coursework

Number, Length and Title (or content) of Exam Papers:

Module 1: Written paper 1½  hours (30% of AS grade, 15% of A2 grade)

Module 2: Written paper 1½ hours (30% of AS grade, 15% of A2 grade)

Module 3: Coursework (40% of AS grade, 20% of A2 grade)

Module 4: Written paper 2  hours (15% of A2 grade)

Module 5: Written paper 2 hours (15% of A2 grade)

Module 6: Coursework (20% of A2 grade)

Course Description:

The course modules are mainly taught in discrete sections

Module 1: Information- Nature, Role and Context

Knowledge, information and data; Value and importance of information; Control of Information; Capabilities and limitations of information technology; The social impact of information technology; Role of communication systems; Information and the professional; Information

systems: malpractice & crime; The legal framework; Software and data misuse; Data Protection legislation; Health and Safety

Module 2: Information- Management and Manipulation

Data capture; Verification and validation; Organisation of data for effective retrieval; Software; nature, capabilities and limitations; Nature and types of software; Capabilities of software; Upgradability; Reliability; Manipulation and/or processing; Dissemination/distribution; Hardware; nature, capabilities and limitation; Security of data; Backup systems; Network environments;

Human/Computer interface

Module 3 Coursework:

You will be required to undertake a project. For this project the candidate will be expected to tackle a task related problem, which will have a limited scope and will be a self-contained problem. The solution is very likely to be based on the facilities of one piece of generic software, although the candidate is encouraged to use other software tools and objects as appropriate to complete the solution. Microsoft Access will be used.

Module 4: Information Systems in Organisations

Management Information Systems; The Information Systems Life Cycle;

Implementation of Information Systems and Strategy; Expert Systems;

Management of change; Security Policies; Disaster Recovery;

Implementation of Legislation; User Support and Training; Project Management; Codes of Practice

Module 5: Information: Policy, Strategy and Systems

System Security, Backup Policies and Accounting; Software Acquisition, Testing and Evaluation; Human-Computer Interface; Data Modelling;

Relational Database Design and Management; Communications and Information Systems; Data Communications and Standards

Module 6 Coursework:

You are expected to undertake a second project that is similar to Module 3, but with a greater emphasis on:

the Analysis of an existing Information System that has real end users

the design of a new system that will meet the specified performance criteria

the Implementation of the new system

Testing (strategy, plan and end user)

User Manual