| ICT |
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The department strives for all students to enjoy their ICT experience at Marshland. We want everyone to develop their ICT skills whilst having fun and gaining transferable skills that are relevant to students' own lives and experiences. ICT is a dynamic and ever-changing subject that opens up many different future paths and will stay with students and affect future decisions. We have excellent resources and would like all students and staff to utilise them to enhance their everyday lives.
Staff
We believe the strength and focus within the department is the teaching and learning of the detailed schemes of work that are present for the various different course and qualifications we follow at Marshland. We are an enthusiastic and dedicated department that works hard to ensure pupils enjoy learning all the different aspects of ICT. We are forward thinking, supportive and committed to sharing ideas and resources. Meet the Team
 Key Stage 3Topics studied: Finding and presenting information, selecting refining and using information, modelling, data handling, control, desk top publishing, ICT in the real world, and web design and creation. Students also get to create podcasts, computer games and wiki's. We currently use' ICT InteraCT 1, 2 and 3 in the form of electronic activity books placing an emphasis on relevant, scenario-based activities that promote problem solving through clearly levelled tasks. The resources are accessed through a web based learning platform ‘Dynamic Learning'. This online digital resource can also be accessed through ‘Fronter' the schools VLE. All activities have levelled assessments that are differentiated by task. Assessment is carried out in various ways. Teachers mark students work and give students a level and feedback on what went well and how work can be improved to obtain a higher level. Teachers give verbal feedback during lessons. We also use ICT InteraCT Interactive online tests, which are marked automatically, and mainly used to test knowledge. Key Stage 4
 All students follow the Edexcel Functional Skills ICT qualification at Level 1 or Level 2 and will be entered for the qualification in Y11. The qualification is assessed by a single computer-based test. It is a pass or fail qualification (equivalent to half a GCSE). The course is designed to provide learners with practical skills in Information and Communication Technology which will develop important problem solving skills which will make sure that they're well prepared for employment, further learning and life in general.We offer two different types of GCSE courses:
• OCR Nationals in ICT, which is a vocational level 2 qualification. Students studying this course need to
complete three units. Unit 1 - ICT skills for business, Unit 21 - computer graphics and Unit 2- Creating a
Website. The qualification is 100% coursework and all units are centre-assessed and externally moderated
by an OCR Visiting Moderator.
• Edexcel GCSE ICT, which is an academic level 2 qualification. Students studying this course need to complete two units. Unit 1 - Living in a digital world and Unit 2 - Using digital tools. Unit 1 is assessed
through a 1 hour 30 minute examination paper set and marked by Edexcel and is worth 40% of the total
grade. Unit 2 is internally assessed under controlled conditions. Students must complete a controlled
assessment task provided by Edexcel and is worth 60% of the total grade.
 PerformanceOver the last two years our results have been consistently good and analysis of data tells us we are performing in excess of expectations. Our most recent set of results from the summer of 2010 continue to show a high level of achievement. OCR Nationals in ICT achieved 100% A-C grade and Business and Communication Systems achieved 100% A"-E and 64% A"-C grade (This course has been discontinued and has been replaced with the new Edexcel GCSE ICT 2010). Accommodation
The department has two dedicated ICT suites for use within the department (Burrall and Gates). Each suite is equipped with interactive whiteboards, 31 modern computers all with network access, broadband internet, numerous software applications that are all used within industry and the right to use colour and black and white printers. Home Learning
 For Year 7 and 8 within ICT we set home learning tasks. The tasks are intended to take a fortnight and be independent work. Students are given a booklet two weeks prior to the deadline which outlines the tasks, a student friendly level guide and any planning required. The booklets then form part of the assessment for the task. Year 9 homework will be set to extend the learning within class. Students in year 9 complete project work and these projects will be enhanced during the lesson. For homework they will be enhancing this work through research, detailed analysis and descriptions of what they have done.
KS4 homework is dictated by the module booklets for functional skills. Students do not have the access to complete many tasks at school so these are the tasks that will be set for homework
All support for homework is available on Fronter along with skill guides and discussion boards for your child to use if they are having difficulty.
Extra-Curricular
Computer rooms are made available for students to complete work/homework on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes. After school clubs are available for year 10 and year 11 ICT students to catch up on coursework or improve their grades. All our schemes of work include extension materials to cater for the gifted and talented ICT users. All our schemes of work include support materials for SEN pupils to allow them to reach their potential in ICT. |
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| Last Updated on Monday, 21 November 2011 16:08 |
