ICT is a CORE subject at Kingsford Community School. Our KS3 and KS4 results are excellent and has been for the past four years beating both the borough’s targets together with the national targets for this subject area.
KS3 Results Table
|
Academic Year |
KS3 Results |
KS4 Results |
|
2005 |
73% |
43% |
|
2006 |
72% |
54% |
|
2007 |
70% |
44% |
|
2008 |
60.7% |
86.5% |
|
2009 |
72% |
89% |
|
2010 |
70% |
100% |
Our curriculum is designed to enhance pupil’s knowledge and understanding for everyday life and employment together with meeting the need of a 21st century learner.
At KS3 (year 7 and 8) our students are encouraged to learn and gain the following key functional skills:
- Finding things out
- Develop ideas
- Analyse
- Presenting information
- Modelling situations
- Problem solving
We encourage our students to understand and apply these skills purposefully, safely and responsibly in learning and everyday life together with teaching them about skills needed in employment through our Functional ICT SKILLS lessons.
In KS4 students start their GCSE DIDA project in year 9 and continue to do this project up until they are in year 11.
DIDA is 100% coursework and each unit is classified as a GCSE so students have the opportunity to gain up to four GCSE grades.
What is DiDA? DiDA stands for the Diploma in Digital Applications. This is a fairly new qualification offered by Edexcel.
The idea is to provide you with the practical skills which will help you out in the real world.
What are all these letters I keep hearing about?
DiDA is basically made up of four qualifications, AiDA, CiDA, CIDA + and DiDA.
To get these qualifications, you have to take modules, of which there are four in total.
You can get the Award (AiDA) by taking Module 1. This is worth 1 GCSE.
You can get the Certificate (CiDA) by taking module 1 and any other. This is worth 2 GCSEs.
You can get an extended certificate (CIDA +) by taking module 1 and any other two modules. This is worth 3 GCSE’s.
Finally, you can get full Diploma (DiDA) by taking all four modules and this is worth 4 GCSEs.
What about Levels?
You can be entered either for Level 1 or Level 2.
With Level 1, your teachers can help you out by giving you guidance and ideas of how to go about things.
With Level 2, you need to do this pretty much on your own. Your teachers can give you a little bit of assistance, but not much.
ICT enables rapid access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures, and allows pupils to collaborate and exchange information on a wide scale. ICT acts as a powerful force for change in society. Citizens should have an understanding of the social, ethical, legal and economic implications of its use, including how to use ICT safely and responsibly. Increased capability in the use of ICT supports initiative and independent learning, as pupils are able to make informed judgements about when and where to use ICT to enhance their learning and the quality of their work.
ICT Functional Skills
Functional Skills are practical skills in ICT that help students gain the most out of work, education and everyday life. For ICT to be useful, students must have the skills and confidence to apply, combine and adapt their ICT knowledge to new situations in their life and work.
Students need the capacity to identify and understand the role that ICT plays in the world and use ICT in ways that enables individuals to function as effective citizens and benefit them in life and work.
It is compulsory for all students to take this examination. Students have been using their ICT lesson time to prepare for this examination together with home learning resources to aid them this exam.
This exam is graded as either a PASS or a FAIL, also there are two level entries for this examination Level 1 or a Level 2 and will last for TWO hours, printing time is included within this two hours.
Students will have as many opportunities to pass this exam from year 9 up to year 11.
