The Computer Science curriculum ensures a solid foundation of computational thinking, programming and problem solving. This enables our students to fully engage with 21^st century technology and to not just have the self-belief that they can succeed in Computer Science but to also experience and to know they will enjoy this challenging subject when pursued as an option.

We encourage students to work independently in order to solve complex problems. This in turn fosters creativity in the students’ approach to solving problems and ability to think laterally. A growth mind-set is deeply embedded into our curriculum; enabling students to be consistently challenged, develop tenacity and resilience; skills vital for success in and beyond the school setting. The early adoption of these most vital of life skills, further serves to ensure students take full responsibility for their studies and that they can see clearly the link between hard work and success. This ultimately raises students’ aspirations and leads to more success in and outside of the classroom.

Computer Science can readily be broken down into two distinct disciplines: programming and the theory of computing. However, the two are not mutually exclusive; we have had great success in stretching the students through coding some of the more complex theories. The coursework at A level serves to enable students to work completely independently to solve a bespoke real-world problem through programming. Students are encouraged to stretch themselves at this point by choosing a project which is inherently complex in nature. The department’s industrial experience in the IT sector ensures students are fully supported in their choice of project even if it goes well beyond the scope of the course.