Our year 9 pupils have had quite a busy year in ICT.  They have completed a Level 2 Award in IT Skills (equivalent to the BCS ECDL Extra qualification) which gives them a variety of IT skills they would need in many jobs such as word processing, presentations and spreadsheets.  There have been some fantastic results with many pupils gaining over 90% on all three of the tests.  In addition to this course, they have also been studying for the digital equivalent of the D of E Award, called iDEA (Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award).  This course has been designed by employers and covers many different aspects of living and working in a digital age, from coding, social media, scams and threats to data etc.  Everyone has managed to complete the Bronze award but quite a few have also completed the Silver award which is a great achievement. 

To round off the year we looked at a business themed project and used different software to complete various tasks.  Pupils have not had the opportunity to study business as a subject before but it is one of the options available at GCSE so it seemed like a good idea to give them a flavour of business.  Pupils have been briefed to design a new chocolate bar for Cadbury’s so this involved initially researching Cadbury’s via their website and finding out all about their history, their existing bars, how different products are made in the factory and what the packaging looks like.  They’ve designed, named and priced a new bar, decided on the fillings, and created packaging for it.  Advertising was the next task and this involved creating a billboard advert, a bus shelter advert and a post for a social media page such as Instagram or Facebook.  Finally, they had to launch their product and deliver their ideas as a presentation to the rest of the class by being as interesting, informative and innovative as they could. 

There have been some very interesting designs and ideas and some terrific presentations.  Well done to all of year 9.  This was a lovely way to end my teaching career at Fyling Hall.

Wendy Banks, Head of ICT