Students will be expected to have met St Paul’s entry requirements of 2 Grade 5’s and 4 Grade 4’s. A minimum of grade 4 in English and Maths is essential for all courses.

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of computing and covers the key areas of software, hardware, data, communications and people. It involves problem-solving and develops the ability to think creatively, analytically, logically and critically. In Year 2 the course develops with greater focus on programming and problem solving.

Specification https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-and-a-level/computer-science-h046-h446-from-2015/

Unit 1:

Computing Principles (Exam-40%) Covers the characteristics of contemporary systems architecture, including:

• Processors, input, output and storage devices

• Software and software development

• Programming

• Exchanging data

• Data types, data structures and algorithms

• Boolean algebra

• Legal, moral, ethical and cultural issues.

Unit 2:

Algorithms and problem solving (Exam-40%)

• Elements of computational thinking

• Programming and problem solving

• Pattern recognition, abstraction and decomposition

• Algorithm design and efficiency

• Standard algorithms

• Systems analysis and design

Unit 3:

Programming Project (Coursework-20%) Students will create a software project to solve a problem

of their own choice

• Analyse a problem

• Design a solution

• Implement the solution (programming)

• Software testing

• Evaluate a solution

Assessment Board: OCR

The emphasis of this course is on computational thinking – a kind of thinking used by humans and machines involving abstraction and decomposition. Students must be interested in the mechanics as well as the use of computing – they must want to know what can be computed and how rather than simply use other peoples’ software packages.

An A-level in Computer Science will help equip you with the knowledge and skills to study a number of degrees including Computing, Games Design, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Software Engineering, robotics, Cyberpsychology, Electronics & Computer Science, Data Analytics, Systems Development and many more.

A computing qualification is a good basis for work as a technician, consultant, computer engineer, software engineer, analyst, data modeller, systems administrator, network administrator, software developer or programmer.

For further information, please contact:

Mrs Khalifa (fkhalifa@st-pauls.leicester.sch.uk) or

Mr Wood (gwood@st-pauls.leicester.sch.uk)