Computer Science
The Computing department at The Tiffin Girls’ School deals with digital skills in Key Stage 3 before moving onto more focused programming and other technical areas at GCSE and A-Level. We also offer extensive opportunities beyond the curriculum in modern technical areas.
In Years 7-9 the focus is on engaging and encouraging the students to be confident in their technical work. As well as a wide range of practical skills, including App design, video editing and spreadsheets, the basic concepts of programming are taught without getting caught up in unnecessary detail at this stage. Students are also encouraged to begin their journey in Cyber and Artificial Intelligence by taking part in competitions and events. Success in these has led to some great opportunities for students in past years. The goal is that students feel empowered and confident to take on the challenges of higher level courses.
At GCSE and A-Level, programming in C# is taught from the beginning, together with the necessary theory. There are further opportunities in Cyber – students have been nominated for awards and some achieve professional qualifications – and we offer Sixth Form students the chance to take on big projects, both directly in the A-Level and through the CyberEPQ scheme. As students progress through the Sixth Form, they become increasingly independent, using technical systems and programming languages of their own choice to move their understanding further, as well as taking on small projects of their own. The intention in future is to offer opportunities in AI, Data Science and Cyber for students to deepen their knowledge of real-world computing work.