As a department we want to ensure our students develop digital skills and understanding to help improve their life chances and become digitally-literate citizens. For example, making ethical decisions and understanding the legislative aspects of computing and the potential computer safety issues. Also, being able to use spreadsheet modelling software to budget finance or create a work plan for revision. Not forgetting the importance of communicating via email and online technology in the digital age we live in. During KS3, students will be provided with an opportunity to experience a combination of Computer Science and ICT related modules. The curriculum from KS3 to KS4 allows students to build skills and knowledge in a range of applications relevant to current technologies. At Key Stage 4 students can opt to study a Cambridge National qualification in Creative iMedia. The Creative iMedia course is a vocationally-related qualification that takes an engaging, practical and inspiring approach to learning and assessment. The Creative iMedia curriculum will equip our students with a range of creative media skills and provide opportunities to develop, in context, desirable, transferable skills such as research, planning, and review, working with others and communicating creative concepts effectively. Through the use of these skills, these students will ultimately be creating fit-for-purpose creative media products. We use a hands on approach to learning which has strong relevance to the way young people use the technology required in creative media. Students will have the opportunity to study a wide range of platforms which we associate with Creative iMedia.
The complexity of the software used and tasks chosen, increases with the journey through KS3. The basics of file management are key to organising and saving work. Online safety is of paramount importance as we have the child’s safety at the forefront of any tasks that require social media interaction, therefore these units come first. Programming our non-text based programming units need to come before text based to allow for comprehension of tasks. For this we concentrate on block based programming using scratch before leading onto a more logically structured coding challenge using Python. Digital literacy – Graphics will naturally lend itself to come before animation of the creation. For web building there is ample opportunity to understand target audience, content, client brief, using PPT before the mechanics of web plus are incorporated. The digital literacy aspects feed well into KS4 optional units for the vocational iMedia course we offer.
Creative iMedia is our KS4 option and the units at KS3 of Graphics, Animation, Cybersecurity, online safety, App design and web design particularly compliment units in this course. If pupils do not wish to take Computer Science or iMedia further academically, they will still have acquired some essential knowledge and work-based transferrable life skills that they will be able to use on of daily basis during their GCSE journey and beyond.
