Interested in joining Goodwin Academy's Sixth Form in September 2025? Visit our Admissions page for more details or email us at admin@goodwinacademy.org.uk if you have any questions.
Interested in joining Goodwin Academy's Sixth Form in September 2025? Visit our Admissions page for more details or email us at admin@goodwinacademy.org.uk if you have any questions.
In the Computing Department, our aim is to fully equip all Goodwin Academy students with the knowledge, understanding and skills they will need to succeed in a digital world. Within our department, we are developing a broader curriculum that offers both Digital Literacy and Computer Science to all students in Key Stage 3.
We hope to develop our students’ passion for Computing thus enabling them to build strong foundations for them to succeed into their adult lives. By making students more digitally literate, it will enable them to be a versatile worker as many companies and business are moving to online systems.
In computing Learners are encouraged to be their BEST.
Brilliance
Our curriculum drives students to aspire to brilliance in all areas by promoting opportunities for academic excellence through a broad and balanced learning experience that stimulates students to be imaginative, creative and reflective in their learning. In line with the 2014 National Curriculum for Computing, our aim is to provide a high-quality computing education which equips all students to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and progress as learners. Our curriculum will teach students key knowledge about how computers and computer systems work, and how they are designed and programmed. Learners will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of computational systems of all kinds, whether or not they include computers.
Enrichment
Enrichment opportunities are not limited to lesson times. Our extracurricular coding club is a way for those learners who want to further their coding skills to meet and develop programs in an environment with likeminded individuals. Opportunities to visit and see the use of computing in real world environments is something which we as a subject will be developing.
Society
Encouraging students to use the internet for research and acquiring further learning, gives students the ability to navigate our digital environments in a way that's safe and responsible and to actively and respectfully engage in these spaces. Fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance is learnt by students covering topics that include an understanding of how:
Thinking:
Our curriculum sequencing ensures students develop long term knowledge, skills and understanding which can be effectively transferred to new opportunities. In computing our curriculum is designed so that key concepts are presented repeatedly throughout KS3, but with deepening layers of complexity, or in different applications. We develop lifelong learning habits to be successful within the Academy and beyond. The use of Thinking Tools is embedded into our curriculum to support students to develop metacognitive approaches, creating awareness of both their own strengths and of areas they would like to develop to be ready for the next step in their life journey.
Over a 3 Year course of study Learners will cover the following topics:
We assess students’ progress throughout the year. Using both formative and summative assessment routines, and in line with the schools marking policy, regular marking and feedback is carried out. This enables identification of understanding and any concepts that need further clarification.
In addition to the formative assessment taking place within each lesson, at the end of each topic an end of topic assessment will be completed. All homework tasks add to a student’s ongoing assessment record.
Assessment routines used:
• Theory-based units are assessed through the medium of questions and answers. Questions are structured using: multiple-choice, link boxes, sentence completion, labelling/drawing diagrams, short answers, calculations and extended response.
• Practical-based units are assessed through the students’ ability to meet a given specification, and demonstrate certain skills, these are assessed using a Rubric based on the criteria that needs to be produced.
Self and Peer marking is also regularly carried out within lessons:
All units studied, enable students to build the skills needed for them to become confident users of IT technologies. Many of these skills are also transferable into other aspects of learning and day to day practices.
The units below specifically build the skills and academic understanding needed to complete the units delivered in our courses at KS4:
| Key Stage 3 Units | Key Stage 4 BTEC DIT / Learning outcomes |
|---|---|
Year 7 - E-Safety-Presenting information Year 8 - Programming using Kodu –How to decompose and plan a project and Image manipulation Year 9 - Planning and Creating a User Interface for a Ski arena and Website development | Component 1: LOA: A Understand interface design for individuals and organisations LOB: Be able to use project planning techniques to plan, design and develop a user interface LOC: Be able to review a user interface. |
Year 7- Analysing Data and Asking Questions - Introduction to spreadsheets Year 8 - Spy School-Revisiting Spreadsheets, Introduction to Data structure and storage Year 9 - Advanced Spreadsheets | Component 2: LOA: A Understand how data is collected and used by organisations and its impact on individuals LOB: Be able to create a dashboard using data manipulation tools LOC: Be able draw conclusions and review data presentation methods. |
Year 7 - E-Safety Year 8 - Image manipulation, consider the impact that edited images can have in society Year 9 - Cyber Security and legislation, the threats and how to mitigate the risks from online sources and risks to data. | Component 3: AO1: Demonstrate knowledge of facts, terms, processes and issues in relation to digital information technology AO2: Demonstrate an understanding of facts, terms, processes and issues in relation to digital information technology AO3: Apply an understanding of facts, terms, processes and issues in relation to digital information technology AO4: Make connections with the concepts, issues, terms and processes in digital information technology |
All students will complete the BTEC Level 1/Level 2 Tech Award in Digital Information.
This qualification will teach the learner about data management and information systems. What different technologies could be used, why they should use them and how to make best use of them, to gather, store, manipulate and present data and information.
They will learn about tools and techniques for use in different digital hardware and software technologies, and how these can be integrated to create digital solutions to manage and communicate data and information. They will also be taught what data and information are and the legal, ethical and moral considerations when using technology to gather, store and present data and information, and how to mitigate the risks of cyber-attacks. Through this qualification they will be able to select and use the most appropriate technology safely and effectively, to complete a data management task.
They will also learn to follow a project life cycle of initiation, planning, execution and evaluation to complete a data management task and use their skills, knowledge and understanding of technology to complete each of the phases of the project life cycle.
There are three units of assessment. Learners must complete all units of assessment to achieve the qualification.
Component 1: Internally assessed.
Exploring User Interface Design Principles and Project Planning Techniques
Learners will develop their understanding of what makes an effective user interface and how to effectively manage a project. They will use this understanding to plan, design and create a user interface.
Learning outcomes:
Component 2: Internally assessed.
Collecting, Presenting and Interpreting Data
Learners will understand the characteristics of data and information and how they help organisations in decision making. They will use data manipulation methods to create a dashboard to present and draw conclusions from information.
Learning outcomes:
Component 3: External Synoptic.
Effective Digital Working Practices
Learners will explore how organisations use digital systems and the wider implications associated with their use.
This external component builds on knowledge, understanding and skills acquired and developed across the qualification. It requires learners to select and integrate knowledge and understanding synoptically from all components. It is assessed through an external assessment that is set and marked by Pearson. Questions will require learners to apply knowledge and understanding to the given scenarios or context.
The table below illustrates how knowledge, understanding and skills from components across this qualification could be integrated to the delivery of this component. The skills support learners in making a synoptic response.
| Component | Material from the component that learners could select and integrate in their synoptic assessment response to Component 3 |
|---|---|
| Component 1: Exploring User Interface Design Principles and Projects Planning Techniques | Topic area A1
Topic area A2
Topic area B1
|
| Component 2: Collecting, Presenting and Interpreting Data | Topic area A7
|
Assessment:
Equally weighted, the three components focus on the assessment of knowledge, skills and practices.
These are all essential to developing a basis for progression and therefore learners need to achieve all components in order to achieve the qualification.
All results are awarded on the following scale:
Components 1 and 2 are centre-assessed controlled assessment tasks which is then moderated by Pearson’s, students will have approximately 6 hours to complete each of these project-based assessments. Prior to and in preparation for this assessment they will be taught the skills needed to complete all objectives; however, once they have started the controlled assessment unit and under the requirement set out by Pearson’s, they will receive no marking, or feedback, however students own notes are allowed. These units must be completed and assessed before undertaking the final component.
Component 3 is a written paper, set and marked by Pearson’s, this paper will take 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete. In preparation for this paper, students will undertake a range of practical tasks to teach the theoretical knowledge required. To ensure that students are familiar with the content and form of exam style questions, student will also complete practice papers.
| Image | Link |
|---|---|
 | Oak Academy https://classroom.thenational.academy/subjects-by-year/year-7/subjects/computing |
 | Craig and Dave tutorials https://student.craigndave.org/gcse-ocr-j277-computer-science-videos |
 | Isaac Computer Science https://isaaccomputerscience.org/topics?examBoard=ocr&stage=gcse |
 | BBC Bitesize Revision GCSE Computer Science - OCR - BBC Bitesize |
 | Computer Science UK Home - CSUK:ReviseCS (computerscienceuk.com) |
| Book Cover | Description |
|---|---|
 | Algorithms to Live by The Computer Science of Human Decisions. by Tom Griffiths and Brian Christian |
 | Coders: Who They Are, What They Think and How They Are Changing Our World by Clive Thompson |
 | Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet by Evans, Claire Lisa |
 | Impractical Python Projects: Playful Programming Activities to Make You Smarter by Vaughan, Lee |
 | Get Coding! Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and Build a Website, App, and Game - Get Coding! by Young Rewired State |