Information and Communication Technology

at Nonsuch High School for Girls

 

Background

"ICT has enormous potential not just for a National Curriculum. It will change the way we learn as well as the way we work."
_{Chris Yapp, ICL Fellow for Lifelong Learning.}

"The modern world requires new skills. Understanding ICT and, more importantly, being able to apply it to the problems we face is one of the most important. Increasingly ICT will be vital for our individual prospects and for our economy's future."
_{Lord Dennis Stevenson, Prime Minister's Adviser on ICT and Education.}

"ICT expands horizons by shrinking worlds."
_{David Brown, Chairman, Motorola Ltd.}

"With scientific method, we took things apart to see how they work. Now with computers we can put things back together to see how they work, by modelling complex, interrelated processes, even life itself. This is a new age of discovery, and ICT is the gateway."
_{Douglas Adams, Author.}

As these quotes illustrate, ICT is a tool which we should all understand and use. At Nonsuch High School for Girls ICT provision has developed rapidly, with expanding facilities and teaching courses, allowing us to give our girls this increasingly essential tool.

 

 

Our Facilities

We have almost 180 modern PCs on a site-wide network, managed by two full-time support staff. Students have access to digital cameras and scanners, networked colour printers and broadband Internet. There are digital projectors and interactive white-boards for teachers to use to enhance lessons. Increasingly, departments use curriculum software in their teaching and make use of these facilities to stimulate learning.

 

The ICT Curriculum

Key Stage 3

All girls in KS3 have discrete ICT lessons, taught by specialist ICT teachers, as well as ‘cross-curricular’ ICT, where they may develop and use their skills in other subjects.

 

Through Key Stage 3 we aim to develop pupils to become increasingly independent, discerning users of ICT. They:

•develop an ability to judge when and how to use ICT

•become able to make judgements about the quality and reliability of the products they have developed

•engage in increasingly complex tasks with a clear focus, efficiency and rigour.

By the end of year 9 pupils are able to work autonomously with a range if ICT applications, using them to produce or enhance work, to research and investigate and to develop knowledge and understanding.

 

Key Stage 4

All girls in KS4 have discrete ICT lessons, taught by specialist ICT teachers.

At Key Stage 4 girls opt to take either a ‘Full’ or a ‘Short Course’ GCSE.

ICT is a theoretical and practical subject but 60% of the GCSE course is assessed by practical project work. Much of the theoretical work is best understood through a practical context. The majority of teaching time is therefore spent on practical tasks: skill development and assessments. Some theoretical aspects are discussed in class and theory homework is set each lesson, often requiring independent research and extended writing.

 

 

IV^th Form

AS/A Level ICT is an increasingly popular option in the VI^th form. We also offer ICT Key Skills in year 13 to all girls who do hot have a Full GCSE in ICT. The A-level Specification is composed of six modules, covering:

• the nature and structure of information and explain how information and communication technology can be used to manage and manipulate it;
• the characteristics of information systems (hardware, software and communications) which allow effective solutions to be achieved;
• the need for and the use of various forms of data organisation and processing to support the information requirements of a particular application;
• the systematic development of quality solutions to problems and the techniques appropriate for implementing such solutions;
• the institutional, economic, legal, spiritual, moral, ethical and social consequences of current uses of information and communication technology;
• the role of information and communications technology in organisations.

Extra-Curricular ICT

All ICT suites at Nonsuch High School for Girls remain open at break, lunch time and after school, giving girls the opportunity to make use of these facilities for school work. The IT teaching staff are available to support GCSE students after school in Thursdays and Fridays.

The Developing Department

We are currently undergoing expansion of ICT resources to increase capacity in our computer suites, and to widen the facilities available to other departments. This considerable investment illustrates commitment of Nonsuch to ICT.