COMPUTER SCIENCE
Aims The study of Computer Science ranges from the creative to the mathematical , making sense of the technology which is fundamental to life in the 21st Century . A GCSE in Computer Science is engaging and practical , encouraging creativity and problem solving . Students will develop their understanding and application of the core concepts of the subject , including abstraction , decomposition , logic , algorithms and data representation . Students analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems , including designing , writing and debugging programs . They will think creatively , innovatively , analytically , logically and critically . They will understand the components that make up digital systems and how they communicate with one another and with other systems .
Content and Structure Students will use creative and practical approaches to explore computer systems and computational thinking , algorithms and programming . The course will relate directly to many layers of the technical world around the students , from image processing to network protocols , the world wide web and encryption . Theoretical aspects such as systems architecture , storage , networks , security , software and the impacts of digital technology will be covered , in addition to the fundamentals of algorithms and robust programming using Python . Students will cover the underlying Boolean logic and explore different languages and the Integrated Development Environment .
Methods of Assessment While the course requires that students have the opportunity to program and the course will be taught largely practically , it will be assessed as two written papers with no practical assessment . Programming will be assessed as part of paper two , in the form of pseudocode or a high-level programming language .
58 THE MIDDLE SCHOOL | AT SEVENOAKS