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Computer Science*

Lead teacher - Mrs Kansara
Email - aka@ifieldcc.co.uk 
Qualification  - GCSE
Level - Level 2 qualification, grades 9 - 1
Lessons per fortnight - 5

* * *ENTRY REQUIREMENTS APPLY * * * 

Course Outline 

The Computer Science 9-1 GCSE course is engaging and practical, encouraging creativity and problem solving. It encourages students to develop their understanding and application of the core concepts in computer science. Students also analyse problems in computational terms and devise creative solutions by designing, writing, testing and evaluating programs 

The course is split into 2 units:

J277/01: Computer systems. This unit assesses the following:

  • Systems Architecture
  • Memory and Storage
  • Computer networks, connections and protocols
  • Network Security
  • Systems Software
  • Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental impacts on digital technology

J277/02: Computer thinkings, algorithms and programming. This unit assesses the following:

  • Algorithms
  • Programming fundamentals
  • Producing robust programs
  • Boolean logic
  • Programming languages and integrated Development Environments
Exam Details

Written Paper 1 - J277/01 Computer systems
1 hour and 30 minutes
50% of GCSE
Non Calculator paper - 80 marks

Written paper 2 - J277/02: Computer thinkings, algorithms and programming
1 hour and 30 minutes
50% of GCSE
Non Calculator paper - 80 marks - split into two sections

Career Progression 

The skills that Computer Science develops would be useful in a wide variety of industries ranging from IT, engineering and manufacturing, construction, performing arts, management, journalism and publishing, and medical technology, the list is endless with  career options including:

  • Creative careers – game designer, web designer, graphic artist, animator
  • Technical careers – product developer, software developer, programmer, technician

Computer science provides a route into further and higher education to study computing, ICT, game design, product design, business studies and multimedia.

Subject Links

Computing is STEM related subject. Other links include ICT, Maths, English, Science, Business Studies, Art, Product Design and Media Studies.

 

Further Requirements

This course is only available to students who have an average points score of 105 or higher from their KS2 data.
Experience of using coding languages such as Python, Java/Javascript. C++ etc is recommended.