Ercall Wood Academy

“In education, technology can be a life-changer, a game changer, for kids who are both in school and out of school. Technology can bring textbooks to life. The Internet can connect students to their peers in other parts of the world. It can bridge the quality gaps.” Queen Rania of Jordan

At Ercall Wood our curriculum has an increased emphasis on Computer Science; not only on how to use technology, but on how to make it and how it works. Students are encouraged to practice skills and develop ideas about how to use computers and ICT to enhance their social, economic, cultural and moral well-being. Through an understanding of computational thinking students start to think like a computer scientist, understanding how computers work and being able to use them creatively, gives pupils the power to shape the world around them. Computing is one of the most fundamentally cross curricular subject areas in education. It’s about using technology, logic, creativity and computational thinking to solve problems that cross all disciplines.  It requires the systematic breakdown of both the problem and the solution.  We prepare pupils for how to live in an increasingly digital world by equipping them with the knowledge, understanding and skills to solve, as yet, unknown problems using tools and technologies that do not yet exist. 

The curriculum at Ercall Wood Academy has been developed to equip our students with the skills, knowledge and understanding of computing they will need for the rest of their lives. The digital age has seen the web, interactive whiteboards, virtual learning environments, video conferencing, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video and mobile devices having a transformative impact on both learning and teaching. The Royal Society has identified three distinct strands within Computing, each of which is complementary to the others with each component being essential in preparing pupils to thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Computer Science is the scientific and practical study of computation. In Year 7, we introduce programming to students at the start of the year by asking them to create webpages using HTML. By using the topic of internet safety, students are reminded how to use the internet safely. At the end of the year, we introduce visual programming using Scratch. Programming skills are developed further in Year 8, where we introduce programming in Python; a high-level programming language and in Year 9, we further develop these skills by looking at the systems design life cycle and the computational theory skills to design, develop, test and evaluate effective computer programs. Every industry uses computers so naturally computer scientists can work in any. Problems in science, engineering, health care, and so many other areas can be solved by computers. It's up to the computer scientist to figure out how, and design the software to apply the solution.

Information Technology is concerned with how computers and telecommunications equipment work, and how they may be applied to the storage, retrieval, transmission and manipulation of data. In Year 7, we introduce the distinction between software and hardware and how these are used to effectively use computer systems. In Year 8, we look further at software by looking at the features of operating systems and look further at the different types of input and output hardware. In Year 9, we extend this knowledge further by looking at the different components within the computer including CPU architecture. ICT takes a broader approach and focuses on the way in which digital information is communicated. IT career options include, Web designer, Systems analyst, Computer games developer and User experience developer.

Digital Literacy is the ability to effectively, responsibly, safely and critically navigate, evaluate and create digital artefacts using a range of digital technologies. In Year 7 we introduce the use of flat file databases in the form of an Excel spreadsheet in a business context. In Year 8, we build on this knowledge by introducing Relational Databases and extend it further in KS4 by looking at sorting and filtering algorithms. The creation of digital artefacts is integral to much of the learning of Computing. Digital artefacts take many forms including digital images, computer programs, spreadsheets and 3D animations. Building digital literacy means that students can look for employment in the media (broadcast engineer, multimedia broadcaster, sound technician) military (armed forces technical officer, intelligence officer, satellite technician) or finance (credit analyst, commodity broker, financial risk analyst).