Computer Science at Callington Community College aims to develop ‘thinkers of the future’ through a modern, ambitious and relevant curriculum. We want to equip pupils to creatively use computational thinking that will enable them to become active participants in the digital world. We understand the importance of empowering our students to use ever-changing technologies to express themselves and as a means to drive themselves forward into the future.

Whilst ensuring students understand the benefits and risks of digital technology, we want students to develop habits which reflect our school values of being respectful, committed and safe when online.

Our aim is to provide a computing curriculum that is designed to balance acquiring a broad and deep knowledge alongside opportunities to apply skills in various digital contexts. Beyond teaching computing discreetly, we will give pupils the opportunity to apply and develop what they have learnt across wider learning in the curriculum.

By the end of their education in Computer Science at Callington Community College, all students of Computer Science will:

• Be able to understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation.
• Be able to analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems.
• Be able to evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems. 
• Be responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology. 
• Hold essential knowledge, transferable skills and tools, which will help learning in other subjects such as time management, referencing, researching and review, working with others and communicating concepts effectively.

In order to fully appreciate Computer Science and develop a deep schema, topics in computer science have been developed using the following rationale:

• Content delivered at KS3 has been carefully selected from the NCCE Curriculum to develop and support understanding in preparation for GCSE studies and to ensure students who do not continue with their studies have a foundational and transferrable knowledge of Computer Science.
• We are working collaboratively within the trust to implement a KS4 Curriculum to ensure students develop a broad understanding of a range of theoretical and practical Computer Science. This alignment will enable use to continually develop our curriculum to be responsive to the needs of our students.
• We will build on the foundational understanding of Python Programming developed in year 7 and 8.

The Computer Science Curriculum at Callington Community College has been influenced by:

Our continued work with outside agencies such as...

• Our collaboration with schools within our trust.
• Developing an understanding of computer science curricula at KS2 and KS5 to so that we can effectively foreshadow and echo core knowledge within our curriculum narrative.

Our subject addresses disadvantage through:

• Sharing clear Learning Outcomes at the start of each lesson to direct and frame students’ thinking.
• Using our Get To Work Tasks to deliberately bring knowledge from the long term memory to the working memory to act as a mental velcro for students’ thinking and learning.

We believe that Computer Science contributes to the personal development of all of our students through:

Giving students the opportunity to show initiative and develop self-confidence and adaptability – students will have a wide range of tools and a well-developed understanding which they will need to solve problems through effectively communicating with their peers. Studying computer science will help students to develop their critical thinking and complex analytical skills. Computer Science is fundamental in terms of equipping students to be successful in a digital and globally competitive world.

Opportunities to build an understanding of Social, Moral and Ethical issues are developed alongside links to the wider world, including careers through:

Discussing and investigating moral and ethical issues; consider the care and use of equipment; making clear the guidelines around the ethical use of the internet and how we keep ourselves safe. Understanding the safe disposal of old ICT equipment and how this could be used to benefit disadvantaged people.  Understanding the impact of digital and ICT developments on the environment (such as how technology has meant the old ways of working can be changed to benefit the environment). Understanding the social isolation that people/countries might face because they cannot keep pace with technological and digital developments and form skills gaps.

Our vision for the Media Studies Curriculum at Callington Community College is to prepare students for the society we envision for tomorrow; enabling students to become critical, intelligent consumers of the mass media. We aim to foster an understanding of the media’s power to influence, shape and define our concepts of identity, reality and social values. We want students to take responsibility for their media consumption and production habits and help them understand the effects of their choices. Lastly, we aim to empower and inspire students to express themselves through the construction of creative, original and thought-provoking media products.

Creativity is the core skill found at the centre of our Media Studies curriculum at Callington Community College. We believe this is central to learners developing their talents and their independence. The curriculum has been built around the fact that we value and encourage the imaginative viewpoints and artistic talent in all of our learners, fostering these innovative approaches into both analytical and production work. By using creative approaches to learning and exploration, we believe learners gain a greater understanding of the practical skills which are used by the media industry to target and appeal to a range of audiences. 

By the end of their education in Media Studies at Callington Community College, all students of Media Studies will: 

• Be able to understand and apply the theoretical framework of Media Studies (media language, representation, industry and audience) to a range of texts.
• Be able to analyse a range of texts, from different historical and contemporary periods, and have repeated practical experience of creating their own media products.
• Be able to evaluate appropriate media-related theories and apply them to a range of texts, whilst understanding and applying applicable contexts, such as cultural, historical, economical, political and social. 
• Be responsible, competent, confident and creative users of industry-standard technology.
• Hold essential knowledge, transferable skills and tools, which will help learning in other subjects such as time management, analysis, evaluation, researching and review, working with others and communicating concepts effectively.

In modern life, the media is an invaluable resource and important feature that all of us engage with via digital technology. As with any new communication source, critical reading and understanding is essential to ensuring that students are taught to read and question the viewpoints they may be presented with. By looking at a range of new and current media, news and digital information we aim to foster curiosity about the ways in which this has been designed and presented to the world. Studying the media not only enables learners to understand the ways in which products are designed to appeal to different groups of people but also how they can be manipulated to have a negative impact on the audiences that use them. Learning to read both widely and critically can encourage interrogation and examination of the news and information we are presented with to develop independent ideas, opinions and viewpoints – all key factors in critical reading and thinking. 

In order to fully appreciate Media Studies and develop a deep schema, topics in Media Studies have been developed using the following rationale:

• Content delivered at the start of Year 10 has been carefully created to develop and support understanding in preparation for the GCSE course and to ensure students have a foundational and transferrable knowledge of Media Studies to succeed at KS4 and KS5 if they choose to continue on the A Level pathway.
• The theoretical framework of Media Studies underpins all of the topics across the course. This framework is built upon and revisited throughout the two years at GCSE, developing understanding to create powerful knowledge to access any media texts.
• We will build on the foundational understanding learnt in English lessons where the analytical and evaluation skills are key and develop this to demonstrate cross-curricular confidence and success.

Our course is designed to encourage innovation from all learners, applying creative approaches to exploring, analysing, evaluating and constructing media products. 

The Media Studies Curriculum at Callington Community College has been influenced by:

• Our collaboration with a national network of Media and Film Studies teachers to continue to develop our excellent subject knowledge and to share and contribute engaging resources.
• Developing an understanding of Jerome Bruner’s spiral curriculum model to ensure that foundational knowledge is built upon in deeper layers of complexity as the course progresses through KS4 and KS5.
• Wider reading by the department team using such sources as the Media Magazine.

Our subject addresses disadvantage through:

• Sharing clear Learning Outcomes at the start of each lesson to direct and frame students’ thinking.
• Using our Get To Work Tasks to deliberately bring knowledge from the long-term memory to the working memory through a range of recall tasks of gradually increasing complexity, continuing to build on the theoretical framework.

We believe that Media Studies contributes to the personal development of all of our students through:

• Developing a combination of practical innovation and productive problem-solving skills.
• Supporting our students in becoming more knowledgeable about our digitally driven world.
• Teaching them about the bias (and manipulation) of the media and the critical skills required to effectively navigate this.
• Helping them to develop a more reasoned approach towards the ways in which society is involved in constructing, impacting and adapting the media we access every day.

Opportunities to build an understanding of Social, Moral and Ethical issues are developed alongside links to the wider world, including careers through:

• Social, moral and ethical issues being deeply embedded within the Media Studies curriculum, through the contexts that are applied to the broad range of texts studied and through the discussions had around representation and depth of meaning in the media industry.
• Trips to places such as Disneyland Paris, New York and Harry Potter Studios examine careers within the media industry and allow students to understand the steps to move forward into a range of media or film industry careers.
• Trips to universities, such as Marjon University in Plymouth and Falmouth University allow students to explore higher education and to understand the range of options available to them close to home.