Computer Studies / Computing

Course summary

In the Lower Sixth, students work in a predominantly digital environment, supported by bringing their own device to lessons. They use a modern coding environment alongside digital textbooks and a digital exercise book to explore an exciting collection of computer science concepts. These range from object-oriented programming to fundamentals of data structures, including queues, stacks and hash tables. Students also explore a number of other more theoretical topics and are introduced to the concepts of the NEA (non-examined assessment) project in which they will develop an individual coding project that demonstrates algorithmic and design skill. The following areas of the syllabus are introduced in the Lower Sixth Fundamentals of programming Fundamentals of data structures Fundamentals of algorithms Theory of computation Fundamentals of data representation Fundamentals of computer systems Fundamentals of computer organisation and architecture Fundamentals of communication and networking Fundamentals of databases Big data Fundamentals of functional programming Systematic approach to problem solving In the Upper Sixth, alongside continuing to develop and complete their projects, students add additional depth through a range of advanced topics, including regular-expression, context-free languages, Turing machines and the classification of algorithmic complexity. Areas of the syllabus that were introduced in the Lower Sixth are expanded upon.