Within a few weeks of joining the school, I made a lot of friends. Here, you get to know someone very quickly - it is so easy to make new friends mainly because of other pupils being so kind and helpful.
- Year 8 Student

Information Communication Technology

ICTICT at Southborough High School is taught to enable students to understand how ICT is used in the business world.

Year 7

In Year 7 pupils will receive two lessons a week of ICT. They are introduced to the school’s network, receive user names and passwords.

In the first week or so pupils will sit a baseline test which allows staff to see what level pupils are working at and therefore help to ensure lessons are set at an appropriate level for the students to progress.

Over the course of the year pupils will learn to use the internet effectively, how to create and manipulate spreadsheets and databases, create leaflets, movies and manage control software. Pupils will be working with Microsoft Office and Macromedia Studio 8.

Year 8

In Year 8 pupils will receive one lesson a week. During this year they will continue to work on developing the skills learnt in Year 7, as well as working on new skills such as web design. The tasks set will be more difficult and they will be expected to become autonomous users of ICT.

Pupils will be working on integrated projects, which combine several of the software packages they have been working in.

Year 9

In Year 9 pupils will again receive two lessons a week of ICT. The first part of this year is made up of several small integrated projects aimed at developing their use of the software and their understanding of the use of ICT in a business context.

ICT

The second part of the year is taken up with preparation for the national ICT SAT’s exams in May. Pupils will be taken through practice tasks in preparation for the two terminal based exams.

The final part of this year is preparation for the DiDA course in Year 10.

Year 10 and 11

In Year 10 and 11 pupils will receive between three to six lessons per week depending on the course they opt to do.

The core ICT is the Aida/Cida from Edexcel (Award/Certificate in Digital Applications). This course can gain the pupils up to two GCSE’s in ICT by the end of Year 11. It has two modules, Using ICT which is taken in Year 10 and Multimedia taken in Year 11 by those who have passed unit 1.

Many students opt to do the extra three hours per week to complete the DiDA ( Diploma in Digital Applications), which is worth four GCSE’s. The final two modules are graphics and ICT in Enterprise.

All four units are paperless modules, where students have to create ePortfolios to show the examiners the work they have created throughout the year.

Years 12 and 13

In sixth form, pupils with the correct qualifications, can enrol on either the Single or Double Applied ICT course. The focus is on developing communication and decision making skills using ICT.

On the AS single the modules are:

On the double you will also do

On the A2 course the modules are:

For most units pupils will need to create ePortfolios to show the work they have done during the year, but three of them are assignments set by the exam board that ask pupils to carry out "hands on tasks".