Computing
Statement of Intent
Computing consists of Computer Science, ICT and Digital Literacy. Computing is both a rigorous academic subject and a practical one, essential to participation in modern life.
The Computing department aims to equip all students at St Bede’s with the knowledge and skills they require to feel confident in computing, whether or not they opt to study Computer Science at GCSE.
We are passionate about making computing inclusive so that all can contribute to, and enjoy, creative challenges such as computer programming. While many would describe young people as ‘digital natives’, there is much to be gained by delving more deeply into the technology that we use every day – from understanding what is inside a computer, to understanding how the Internet works.
We aim to provide all students the opportunity to:
- Develop a sense of play and curiosity to explore computers; for example, by building their own software through programming, or by exploring the hardware inside a computer.
- Understand how they can utilise computers in their academic life at school and beyond.
- Understand the down-sides of using technology and learn about ethical, environmental, legal and cultural issues - including the risks associated with using computers and e-safety.
Achieve success by offering a challenging and relevant curriculum that enables our students to:
- become fluent in using basic applications such as IDE’s, word-processing applications, browsers and email.
- develop resilience and the ability to adjust to new software environments and computational problems, learning through experimentation where appropriate.
- make informed judgements about the benefits and drawbacks of technological solutions to different problems.
- solve problems by applying computational thinking skills – such as abstraction, decomposition and algorithmic thinking - to a variety of standard and non-standard problems.
- become independent learners, developing probing questioning and investigative approaches, and knowing when, how and who to ask for support.
- deepen their understanding by providing varied, enjoyable and sophisticated problems.
- prepare for the rigours and creative demands of the GCSE course and specification if they opt to study Computer Science.
For more details please contact:
Mrs R Boparai, Head of Computing: rboparai@stbedes.cambs.sch.uk