September 2024 will see the Computer Science department taking part in a Lancashire pilot of a scheme, ‘I am the Code’. This project is a worldwide project that is aiming to get 1 million women and girls into coding by 2030. We are piloting it here at PGHS, working alongside Lancashire Education Authority. Selected Year 10 and Year 11 GCSE Computer Science students will be involved. The project allows the students to learn a variety of programming languages and the team work skills needed for the workplace and further education. The aim is to support the students who have a keen interest in developing their Computer Science knowledge and who wish to continue their Computer Science studies further afield. I look forward to seeing how this project develops over the next academic year.    

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

Year 10 have almost completed the theory for paper 1, Principles of Computer Science. This consists of systems architecture and software, looking at data representation including binary, hexadecimal and sound.  They have also been learning about networks and how they work.  This includes the internet and the security issues.  The final learning will be about ethical and environmental issues surrounding Computer Science including legislation.  They have also started revisiting Python programming language from Key Stage 3. You have all worked extremely hard this year and I look forward to next year when the main focus will be paper 2 and the practical elements of the course.  Interventions will also begin.

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

This final half term has seen Year 7 exploring digital media.  They have explored social media influencers and looked at why they have a huge impact in young people’s lives. The students have created an interactive presentation, including sound and videos all about these social media influencers and the impact social media and influencers have on people’s health.

Year 8 have been learning about designing their own music festival and they have planned a website to promote it. The students have incorporated a variety of features into their websites, including scrolling text. They have investigated the programing language HTML that sits behind the websites and have started to write some HTML codes to help produce their websites.

Year 9 have learnt about sound and video editing and have created an advert for a holiday. They have downloaded suitable music and sound effects and using Audacity, have mixed the music and effects together to create the audio track for the advert. They have downloaded video clips and have used open shot video editing to create their final advert.  There has been some brilliant work produced by Year 9 students.  Well done!

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

Key Stage 3 Computing

This final half term sees Year 7 exploring digital media. They are exploring social media influencers and looking at why they have a huge impact in young people’s lives. The students will be creating an interactive presentation, including sound and videos all about these social media influencers.

Year 8 are learning about designing their own music festival and they have planned a website to promote this. The students are incorporating a variety of features into their websites, including scrolling text. They are investigating the HTML programming language that sits behind the websites and are starting to write some HTML codes to help produce their websites.

Year 9 are learning about sound and video editing and are currently in the process of creating an advert for a holiday. They have downloaded suitable music and sound effects. Using Audacity, they are mixing the music and effects together to create the audio track for the advert. They will then download video clips and start to edit these and add the sound track. I am looking forward to seeing the finished products.

GCSE Computer Science

This term has seen the year 11 cohort complete their GCSE Computer Science exams. They have been an absolute pleasure to teach and have worked exceptionally hard and made me extremely proud! Good luck, girls in your future career paths.

Year 10 have almost completed all the theory for paper 1, Principles of Computer Science. This theory consists of systems architecture and software, looking at data representation including binary, hexadecimal and sound, learning about the security of networks and how different networks are structured including the internet. The final learning will be about ethical and environmental issues surrounding Computer Science, including legislation.  They have also started revisiting Python programming language from Key Stage 3. You have all worked extremely hard this year and I look forward to next year when the main focus will be Paper 2, focusing on the practical elements of the course and intervention will also begin.

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

Key Stage 3 Computing

This half term sees Year 7 completing a programming unit using BBC Micro:Bits. This unit has seen them complete a range of challenges and games using the Micro:Bit website. They will be exploring digital media, looking at social media influencers and why they have a huge impact in young people’s lives. The students will be creating an interactive presentation, including sound and videos all about these social media influencers.

Year 8 are learning about designing their own music festival and have planned a website to promote it. The students will be incorporating a variety of features into their websites, including scrolling text. We will be investigating the programing language, HTML that sits behind the websites and challenging the students by asking them to write some HTML code to help to produce their websites.

Year 9 are learning about computational thinking and understanding how programs and computers think and work. They will be exploring flowcharts, pseudocode and then looking and creating mini-programs based on the flowcharts and pseudocode into python. This will give the students an insight into GCSE Computer Science. 

GCSE Computer Science

Year 11 are preparing for their final GCSE exams. The students have been spending the time learning about the practical paper and how to answer some of the questions. All students are working hard and I wish them huge success with their GCSEs.

BTEC Creative Media Production

Year 11 have completed their final 10-hour practical exam. There has been some amazing work produced. Well done!

Year 7 and Year 8 Computing Club

The students can come along and build a Lego robot and then start to program these to make them move using BBC Micro:Bits. Come along from Monday, 3rd June in room 53 at lunchtime.

Year 11 are currently completing their final 10-hour practical exam.  They have completed the first 5 hours and produced some detailed plans ready for the final creation of their media product. They will need to arrange the assets that they wish to include in the final product. Well done with the preparation stage and good luck for the final 5 hours of exam!

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for C.A.T. Faculty

Year 11 have completed their final mock exams and there are some pleasing results. The students have been spending the time learning about the practical paper and how to answer some of the challenging questions. All students are working hard and hope they continue this hard work over the next few weeks in preparation for the final GCSEs.

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for C.A.T. Faculty

KS3 Computing lessons have had a focus around online safety and looking at persuasive design used in app creation. We discussed a range of persuasive design features that companies use and how these impact on their lives. The students then selected a few of these features and designed an app.  They then presented these to their peers. There have been some incredible ideas.

Year 7 are starting to explore a different way of programming using BBC Micro:Bits. This unit has seen them complete a range of challenges and games using the Micro:Bit website. They can experiment with this at home using the BBC Microbit website.

Year 8 are exploring a different way of programming using BBC Micro:Bits. This unit builds from what they have learnt in year 7 about Micro:Bits by incorporating Python programming language to add challenge.

Year 9 are learning about computational thinking and understanding how programs and computers think and work. They will be exploring flowcharts, pseudocode and then looking and creating mini-programs based on the flowcharts and pseudocode into python. This will give the students an insight into GCSE Computer Science.

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

Year 11 are also currently completing their final 10-hour practical exam; the first 5 hours are on Thursday 21st March. They are in the process of producing some detailed plans ready for the final creation of their media product. They will need to arrange the assets that they wish to include in the final product. Well done with the preparation stage and good luck for the final exam of the course!

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty

Year 11 are preparing for their final mock exams before the real GCSEs in the Summer. The students have been spending the time learning about the practical paper and how to answer some of the challenging questions. All students are working hard and I hope they continue this hard work over the next few months.

Mrs Bennett

Curriculum Leader for the C.A.T. Faculty