At the start of each academic year, a key question arises: "How should the curriculum be ordered?" With Ofsted placing a stronger focus on curriculum sequencing, it's become increasingly important to justify why content is taught in a specific order. At Smash Your Exams, we've spent decades refining our approach to teaching GCSE Computer Science and have developed a curriculum that maximises student engagement and learning.
For our the purpose of this article, we will focus on the OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) curriculum. We begin Year 10 with 1.2 Primary Storage, Secondary Storage, and Data Representation, rather than the more traditional 1.1 Systems Architecture. This decision is rooted in our experience that storage concepts are more accessible to students of varying abilities. By establishing a solid understanding of how data is stored and represented early on, students can better grasp later topics like systems architecture, which builds on these foundational ideas. This is not to say it is the only way, of course! Many teachers will have started with various other topics, likely depending on the KS3 structure and time with the students. That being said, this is what worked well for us.
We find that when students understand storage, it's easier to introduce concepts such as instructions being fetched from RAM, a critical part of 1.1 Systems Architecture. The transition is smoother as students already have a foundation in binary and data representation, enabling them to understand how instructions are executed at a deeper level.
Programming Fundamentals: A Progressive Approach
While many students entering Year 10 have been introduced to programming fundamentals such as print statements and inputs during Year 9, we choose to revisit these topics to ensure a comprehensive understanding before moving on to more complex programming tasks. This approach helps create an inclusive environment where all students, regardless of their starting level, can succeed in GCSE Computer Science. We teach programming concepts throughout the entirety of Year 10, with students covering 2 programming lessons out of 5 in a 2-week cycle of lessons. Towards the end of Year 10, we flip the ratio to 3 programming lessons and 2 theory lessons. This ensures they are sufficiently covering the depth needed to be successful in the Component 2 paper.
Building Knowledge Sequentially: Year 11 Structure
By the beginning of Year 10, we’ve typically covered up to 1.5 Systems Software - one of the last components of component 1. Our aim is to always cover the remainder of the OCR GCSE curriculum by the February half-term, leaving ample time for focused revision in the lead-up to the May exams. This structured approach gives students the confidence they need to succeed. This means that Year 11 comprises of:
1.5 System Software
1.6 Laws and Ethics
We then refocus back on Component 2 and reap content covered throughout our practical programming lessons before diving into common algorithms, logic and IDEs in more depth.
To get a copy of our detailed 2-year, lesson-by-lesson delivery calendar (scheme of work) click below.
We are even throwing in our curriculum to a page document for free in one pack to help you prepare your students for success throughout their GCSEs. These pages are used to help students when Ofsted ask questions such as "What are you learning? What did you learn before? Why are you learning this now? How does this build upon what you learnt before?" We also repeatedly ensure students are prepared to answer the questions, using our 'curriculum to a page' documents in their folders. These reflective questions are increasingly common in Ofsted inspections and help reinforce a clear learning progression.
Supporting Students and Teachers with Additional Resources
At Smash Your Exams, we provide a variety of resources to support both students and teachers, such as our lesson-by-lesson delivery calendar and curriculum summaries. These tools are designed to help educators plan effectively and ensure students understand how each lesson builds on the last.
If you want help improving your curriculum, results and teaching Computer Science for GCSE or A level please get in touch using our contact page.
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