Students who choose to study Computer Science at Key Stage 4 will follow the Pearson Edexcel GCSE Computer Science course.

The areas covered in the course include:

• Unit 1: Principles of Computer Science - This unit includes the topics of computational thinking, data, hardware and software components, networks and the issues and impact of computing technology.
• Unit 2: Application of Computational Thinking - Problem-solving with programming. The main focus of this unit is understanding what algorithms are, understanding how to decompose and analyse problems and the ability to read, write, refine and evaluate programs.

The types of tasks that will be completed are:

• Understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of Computer Science, including abstraction, decomposition, logic, algorithms, and data representation.
• Analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems, including designing, writing and debugging programs.
• Think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically.
• Understand the components that make up digital systems, and how they communicate with one another and with other systems.
• Understand the impacts of digital technology to the individual and to wider society.
• Apply mathematical skills relevant to Computer Science.

The course is assessed through two 1 hour 30 minute written examinations that take place in the summer of Year 11. The first of these is a written examination which covers Unit 1 as described above and is worth 50% of the final grade. The second examination is an on-screen assessment of students' practical programming skills.

There is a huge shortage of ICT skills in the workforce and this qualification opens the doors to jobs in the Computing Science industry, such as programming software or web apps. The skills developed will also lend themselves to analytical jobs in Mathematics or the Science industries.

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