Curriculum Areas - Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Introduction

Lynn Grove has a highly developed and well established ICT resource which includes six dedicated computer suites, each with an interactive whiteboard to enhance teaching and learning. The school uses industrial standard software, recently updated to the Vista Operating System, Microsoft Office 2007 and the Adobe Web Standard Suite to ensure that our students leave with skills which are readily adaptable to their future requirements, whether it be further and higher education or work.

Although the majority of our students have access to computers at home and are able to complete work in their own time, a computer room is made available every day after school to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to meet demanding deadlines. The computer rooms also enable all students to receive support and guidance as required.

The ICT department plays a leading role in supporting the work of The Training School and regularly hosts placement for students from a wide range of Higher Education Institutions and through our community outreach work, we have supported other schools looking to develop their ICT curriculum and approaches to teaching and learning.

All pupils study 4 lessons at KS3 and 5 lessons at KS4. per fortnightly cycle. All year 9 and KS4 students have a 1:1 computer ratio.

The school also offers extensive computer resources for the different curriculum areas.

ICT Programme of Study: Year 8

Lynn Grove is offering the ICT Framework by timetabling students for 2 - 50 minute ICT lessons each week. Students are taught in mixed ability class sets of 22 - 25 students.

Year 8 delivery - Lynn Grove teaches in units which enable the ICT tutors to revisit objectives to consolidate learning.

The school will commence its teaching of the National Strategy with the following adapted units:-

Unit Titles
Unit 7.6 - Control and Monitoring
Unit 8.1 - Public Information Systems
Unit 8.2 - Publishing on the Web
Unit 8.3 - Reliability, Validity and Bias
Unit 8.4 - Models and Presenting Numeric Data
Unit 8.5 - Integrating Applications to Find Solutions

This will ensure full coverage of the strategy by our students and enhance continuity.

Students are involved in the assessment process and will complete individual Pupil Assessment Sheets at the end of each unit. They will also receive individual feedback from the teacher.

All students are set Target Grades, calculated using Average KS2 scores. Using this information and in discussion with the teacher, students will be given a challenge grade set by the teacher (usually higher than their target grade) and will set themselves a personal challenge grade.

Differentiation:

Where relevant, students will be given tasks which have been adapted for differing student needs. More able students will be set tasks requiring greater problem solving, analysis and evaluation skills. Less able students will be set comparable tasks with more guidance. Differentiation will also be assessed by outcome.

The committed team of teachers and specialist support staff work together to ensure that the pupils achieve extremely highly at both KS3 and KS4.

Key Stage 4

We have recently introduced the OCR Nationals in ICT qualification at KS4 which is taught to the whole cohort.

The OCR National is a practically-based qualification intended to stimulate and interest our students, enabling them to develop skills, knowledge and understanding of a wide range of industry standard computer applications that are beneficial across the curriculum The course supports achievement of key skills and relates to national occupational standards thereby providing an ideal progression into work or further education.

Year 9 - 11 students have commenced the course during which students produce up to 7 internally marked and externally verified units. The units will consist of paper based and electronic evidence and will be selected from the following available units:-

OCR Unit Titles include :-
Mandatory unit - 60 guided learning hours (Group A)
Unit 1 ICT Skills for Business
Optional units - 60 guided learning hours (Group B)
Unit 2 Webpage creation
Unit 3 Digital imaging - plan and produce computer graphics
Unit 4 Design and produce multimedia products
Unit 5 Desktop publishing
Unit 6 Spreadsheets - design and use
Unit 7 Databases - design and use
Optional units - 30 guided learning hours (Group C) [1/2 units]
Unit 20 Creating animation for the WWW using ICT
Unit 21 Creating computer graphics
Unit 22 Creating sound using ICT

Awards

All students are expected to achieve one of the following awards depending on the number of units completed at Pass, Merit or Distinction level.

  • OCR Level 2 National First Award in ICT (1 GNVQ Equivalent)
  • OCR Level 2 National Award in ICT (2 GNVQ Equivalent)
  • OCR Level 2 National First Certificate in ICT (3 GNVQ Equivalent)
  • OCR Level 2 National Certificate in ICT (4 GNVQ Equivalent)

Key features of the new qualification:-

  • builds on the Key Stage 3 Programme of Study in ICT
  • successor to GNVQ ICT (Intermediate)
  • mapped against the e-Skills National Occupational Standards for IT Users and the National Curriculum Programme of Study in ICT
  • practical approach used to develop a body of skills and knowledge
  • flexible structure, supporting discrete delivery
  • supports formative assessment, credit accumulation and lifelong learning
  • promotes creative use of digital applications
  • uses e-portfolios as tools for learning and assessment

The 2006-07 Year 11 Students completed the General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ). This course has now been replaced by the OCR Nationals in ICT described above.

Lynn Grove once again received excellent GNVQ results with over 98% of the cohort completing the course successfully.

Differentiation was achieved through coursework and examination outcome.