KS3 - Years 7, 8 and 9

In KS3 ICT is studied for one 60 minute lesson each week.

The ICT faculty has introduced the OCR Nationals range of qualifications into the schemes of work for KS3. Students have the opportunity to develop ICT skills which are relevant to everyday life and the world of work.

Students in KS3 have the opportunity to submit the work they have completed at the end of Year 9 and achieve the OCR First Award in ICT which is equivalent to 1 GCSE at grade A – C.
KS4 - Years 10 and 11

ICT is studied for four 60 minute lessons per week by students in Year 10 and five 60 minute lessons each week for students in year 11.

Both year groups follow the OCR Nationals range of qualifications which follow on from the work studied in KS3. There are four qualifications available in KS4 which are all assessed by internally set coursework which is then externally moderated. Each unit of coursework comprises Pass, Merit and Distinction tasks which build up to form a portfolio of work. You must achieve at least a Pass in all of the units of work to pass the course. This requires completion of ALL the Pass level tasks. Each qualification allows progression on to the next one by ‘topping up’ the qualification once it has been successfully achieved. The four qualifications available are:

First Award – equivalent to 1 GCSE at grade C or above
First Certificate – equivalent to 2 GCSE’s at grade C or above
National Award – equivalent to 3 GCSE’s at grade C or above
National Certificate – equivalent to 4 GCSE’s at grade C or above

Each qualification comprises of the mandatory unit of coursework which is Unit 1 – Skills for Business which consists of File Management, Web Browsing, Emailing, Spreadsheets, Database, Business Documents, Newsletter & Presentations.

 
What the Qualifications Mean

First Award - This qualification comprises of the mandatory unit of coursework Unit 1 and Unit 20 – Creating Animation which consists of planning and creating an animation suitable for use on the World Wide Web.

First Certificate - This qualification comprises of the units for the First Award with two additional units. Unit 23 – Creating Video which consist of planning and creating a video clip and Unit 2 – Webpage Creation which consists of planning and creating a website containing a variety of interactive elements.

National Award - This qualification comprises of the units for the First Award and First Certificate along with two additional units. Unit 13 – IT Systems which consists of selecting an appropriate IT system and configuring both the operating system and the application software so that the entire system meets the needs of a specified user and Unit 4 – Multimedia which consists of planning and creating a multimedia product containing a variety of multimedia elements.

National Certificate - This qualification comprises of the units for the First Award, First Certificate and the National Award with one additional unit. Unit 3 – Digital Imaging which consists of planning and creating four graphics using both bitmap and vector tools.