Computing

Subject Overview

The computing department aims to give all pupils the key skills they need for a digital age developing resilience and independence so that whatever jobs are in demand in the future they will in a strong position to thrive and help develop them forward.  We strive to encourage computational thinking skills including logical thinking, debugging, perseverance, abstraction and creating algorithms.  Students are taught how to become good digital citizens knowing about e-safety and understanding the impact of their digital footprint.  All students are given the opportunity to experience a range of different devices within the classroom,  using a large range of software to create specific products and these skills will be transferable to help them in their future careers.  We also aim to facilitate their use of technology within other subjects in the Academy. As you will see from our curriculum plan below, students cover a variety of software and hardware during KS3.  They then have the opportunity to choose GCSE Computer Science or OCR Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia at KS4 and then A’ Level Computer Science or BTEC Media in the 6th form.

Students experience computing at Shire Oak during Y5 and Y6 when they come to us for DigitalSchoolhouse workshops.  When they start Y7, they are inducted into our network and become Google users, being shown skills necessary to effectively manage their online accounts to assist in their learning.  They have a cross curricular day in Y7 where they design, make and then race cars in the Race to the Line competition.  The winners go through to represent the Academy at Regional Finals at RAF Cosford.  We run a computer club once a week where students can come and do any computing based activity they are interested in including playing games on our consoles, Raspberry Pis, Micro:bits, Lego Mindstorms and Chromebooks.  We run regular competitions including Minecraft at Christmas and esports tournaments as part of the Digital Schoolhouse National programme.  Previous tournaments have included:  Rocket league, Overwatch and SuperSmash Bros.  Students can apply to be organisers for this tournament.  Winning team go onto represent the Academy at regional finals at Staffordshire Universities gaming hub in Stoke-on-Trent.