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Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination. Come and find out more….

In our ever-changing world, the ability to not only understand how computers work but to also recognise how we can use them to solve problems is an essential and transferable skill. Computational thinking is at the heart of Computer Science and encourages us to: decompose our problems into the smallest possible chunks; recognise patterns in a problem so our solutions can be made more efficient; abstract the unnecessary details from the problem and to produce algorithms which offer an efficient solution.

Computer Science is delivered to First, Second and Third Form pupils each week, along with ESafety and ICT, under the umbrella term of Computing. Pupils have the opportunity to learn how to solve problems and think like a computer, discover how computers count, learn how the internet works, build websites from scratch and learn to program in two different languages, as well as many other facets of Computing.

In Fourth Form pupils study GCSE Computer Science. Whilst the course builds on their first years, it is delivered from first principles, so pupils do not need any Computing background to take part. GCSE includes the theory of programming, computational thinking, networking, cybersecurity and the social impact of computers on our lives.

Computer Science at A level is also taught from first principles, allowing those who have not studied it before to quickly grasp the course whilst also further embedding and broadening the learning of those who did take Computer Science at GCSE. The course is split into theoretical learning as well as programming and practical project work.

Mr IAN RAMSDEN
Head of Computing and ESafety
iramsden@downside.co.uk

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