ICT at St Ursula’s

You see the letters ICT everywhere - particularly in education. But what does it mean? ICT is an acronym that stands for Information Communications Technology. A good way to think about ICT is to consider all the uses of digital technology that already exist to help individuals, businesses and organisations use information.  ICT will almost certainly cover the above examples of ICT in action, such as focusing on the use of key applications e.g. spread sheets, databases, presentation, graphics and web design software.
It also considers the following important topics that deal with the way ICT is used and managed in an organisation:
- The nature of information (the "I" in ICT)- this covers topics such as the meaning and value of information; how information is controlled; the limitations of ICT; legal considerations
- Management of information - this covers how data is captured, verified and stored for effective use; the manipulation, processing and distribution of information; keeping information secure; designing networks to share information
- Information systems strategy - this considers how ICT can be used within a business or organisation as part of achieving goals and objectives

KS 4 Year 11 ICT at St Ursulas

A very successful  year  with OCR Nationals
Following on from a very successful 2011 cohort, the KS4 students are currently working towards a Level 2 National Certificate First Award. This has continued from last year and we look forward to another successful year in 2012.
The current year 11 students have now completed their course work for which they can look forward to an award of Pass, Merit or Distinction equivalent to a C, B or A grade at GCSE.
We are looking forward to developing this further and will be able to offer some students the opportunity to study for the National Award, equivalent to 2 GCSEs.
Overview
OCR Nationals are exam-free, vocationally related qualifications that take an engaging, practical approach to learning and assessment. They’re industry-relevant, geared to key sector requirements and very popular with schools and colleges because they suit such a broad range of learning styles and abilities.

This course has been developed to recognise learners’ skills, knowledge and understanding of Information and Communication Technology functions, environments and operations. Students carry out a range of tasks that have been designed to mark their achievements in a modern, practical way that is relevant to the workplace.

Specification aims
These qualifications specifically aim to:

• Develop learners’ knowledge and understanding of the Information and Communication Technology sector
• Develop learners’ skills, knowledge and understanding in contexts that are directly relevant to employment situations, thereby enhancing their employability within the Information and Communication Technology sector
• Develop learners’ ability to work autonomously and effectively in an Information and Communication Technology context
• Enable learners to develop knowledge and understanding in specialist areas of Information and Communication Technology, and demonstrate the skills needed to participate in the operation and development of ICT specific or ICT non-specific business organisations
• Encourage progression by assisting in the development of skills, knowledge and understanding that learners will need to access further or higher education programmes or occupational training on a full-time or part-time basis
• Encourage progression by assisting in the development of skills, knowledge and understanding that learners will need to enter employment or enhance their current employment status
• Promote interaction between employers, centres and learners by relating teaching and assessment to real organisations.

KS 4 Year 10 ICT at St Ursulas

Change is coming, new government new syllabus.

Moving to GCSE ICT for a brighter future, the year 10 students will be embarking on a journey to empowerment in ICT.
The focus is: more women in ICT, the course is targeted at students who have an interest in ICT and in studying it further to support their career path.
It gives a strong foundation in technology and ensures students leave confident in current and emerging technology and provides a good foundation for further studies in the subject.

Overview

In this course, students explore how digital technology impacts on the lives of individuals, organisations and society. They learn about current and emerging digital technologies and the issues raised by their use in a range of contexts (learning and earning, leisure, shopping and money management, health and wellbeing and on the move). They develop an awareness of the risks that are inherent in using ICT and the features of safe, secure and responsible practice.

Students broaden and enhance their ICT skills and capability. They work with a range of digital tools and techniques to produce effective ICT solutions in a range of contexts. They learn to reflect critically on their own and others’ use of ICT and to adopt safe, secure and responsible practice.

KS 3 Year 7, 8 & 9 ICT at St Ursulas

Year 7

Having discovered the fundamental importance of staying safe online, these students have created PowerPoint presentations on ways to stay safe whilst surfing the internet. To excel further on their PowerPoint skills, they have created yet another presentation but this time producing their own timeline; that shows when the internet started and other key dates such as when ‘google’ first came into being. The girls then decided to take it to a more personal level and add their own date of births and also family members to show how they are older than most things that they use today e.g. Game or social sites
.
Year 7’s are now focusing on the new ‘Around the World in 80 days’, where the girls have embarked upon an integrated Humanities project until the end of term. Departments have been working cross curriculum to develop an extended project, which develops a range of skills for learning. This should teach the girls how to work in teams and be collaborative.

For this Project the year 7’s will be creating a website which will feature all the work that they are doing in different subject lessons. This will tie everything together allowing them to view all their work from the different classes.

Year 8

The girls have been creating their own Pac Man using the software ‘Scratch’, which enables them to create their own fast food eating machine! They are learning how to make their Pac man in different directions and also creating different costumes.
Now moving on to more challenging work the girls have been asked to create a whole quiz based on an artist of their choice on excel. This wasn’t any quiz. This quiz had to involve 3 pages and a lot of hard work and inputting of text, Pictures,
Hyperlinks and conditional formatting. The results of this quiz were amazing and a winner is to be announced.

Year 9

The years 9’s have started off by creating a school video in groups. They have each been given an individual subject which they then have  had to go and research and show how best they can show their subject in the video. This Project was so popular that the Head teacher wants us to create a video for the year 6’s in their primary schools, to show them what our school St Ursula’s is all about. The girls have enjoyed  filming, storyboarding and planning and they have all created amazing footage with the winner yet to be announced. This winner also receives a prize for the best video from the head teacher!