News

In KS4 pupils have to study ICT for at least one hour per week. They did not have to study it to GCSE standards but the option was available that if the pupils wanted they could complete the work and submit it for moderation. One hundred and seventy one pupils chose to study for the GCSE equivalent qualification. Those pupils who opted for this studied for the OCR National Course. Other pupils through the option choices decided to do extra ICT and chose either the BTEC Course or the OCR National Course. These courses, depending upon the number of units undertaken, are worth either one, two, three or four GCSE’s. Most pupils in the BTEC course studied for the Diploma which is worth 4 GCSE’s whilst in the OCR a majority of the pupils studied for the national Award worth 2 GCSE’s. This was mainly due to the time allocation for the Courses.

Both these courses required the coursework to be moderated by an external examiner.

This was the first time with the whole year having to take ICT but overall the Department managed to get 71% of the cohort through. Of the 171 pupils who chose to study it – they all passed the course either at a Pass (C), Merit (B) or Distinction (A) grade – 100% pass rate.
The two option groups managed to secure 100% for the BTEC course and 95% for the OCR National Course.

As well as the Year 11 having their work moderated – some of the Year 9 also had some of their work moderated, since pupils now start their OCR National Course during their Year 9. Group 9 Set 1 managed in their one hour per week to complete 2 units of work all at Distinction level. Therefore all pupils in that group have now managed to secure an ‘A’ grade in ICT. They are now all studying hard to complete the other 2 units so that they will gain the 2 GCSE’s before they leave Gable Hall. An excellent result.

This year we have been lucky enough to be able to purchase 3 pieces of additional software for the department. Matchware Mediator is a multimedia authoring piece of software which will allow pupils to produce better quality multimedia products including presentations and interactive 2d games. Pupils at the moment have been using this program for Unit 11 in Yr 8 as part of the Interactive Games unit where pupils are designing and creating a game with simple programming skills. Pupils will also be able to use this as part of Unit 4 in the OCR National course.

Serif Applications is a group of programs which includes: DrawPlusX4, WebPlus X4, PhotoPlusX3, PagePlusX4 and MoviePlusX3. The main one we will be using will be MoviePlus - this is a replacement for Windows Moviemaker which is becoming very limted in what pupils can produce in the way of movies and videos. Pupils make great use of movie making program since it is part of the Yr 7 course and is a vital part of the OCR National couse - Unit 23. Over next year will be using the other programs as alterntaive to out Macromedai suite including Fireworks, Flash and Dreamweaver.

Serif are offering you the chance to buy the same software for £10.00 per program or £45.00 for all 6 - which also includes an extra program called Scrapbook Artist. The normal price for the software retails at over £300.00. You can find an order form here if you want to purchase the software for home. Just print it out, fill it in and send off to Serif.

The final piece of software we have purchased is called Missionmaker. MissionMaker lets students rapidly create visually 3D rich worlds for first-person 'Missions' - complete with sets, animated characters, dialogue and music. This will also allow teachers to create more interactive games and worksheets to help pupils with their learning.