Summer Newsletter 2022

521 SUMMER NEWSLETTER 2022 LEGO SPIKE YEAR 8 CURRICULUM This term we had a lucky Year 8 class trial run our new programming lego spike prime unit of work focusing on the use of lego spikes in robotics. Thi s had the students look at robotics, what they are, where they are used and how they are developed. W e used the lego spike prime kits to build a rescue robot and each week attempted to further develop the build with new pieces of equipment, test and fix any issues that pop up and look at how to improve the robot in the future. We ar e aiming to build this topic into a full unit of work to allow all students the opportunity to work with robotics and to give them a taste of other career paths within computing. This unit of work was also supported by the royal navy and BAE. GAME DESIGN IN KS5 Our Year 12 IT students have this term been learning about game design and creating real mobile games. W e have been comparing the use of three different game development software: construct3, gdevelop and defold. We have several students in our class who are now considering games development courses at university. In this course, you study game development, app design, website design as well as project management, big data and computer systems. If you would like more information about this course at KS5 then speak to Mr Atkinson. IMEDIA CURRICULUM Next September will see the launch of a new Creative iMedia curriculum! This will include exciting new units including game design, graphics and even possible augmented reality! YEAR 7 COMPUTING LESSONS Year 7 students this term have started their programming journey! Excitingly they have been programming scratch and linking makey-makey boards so that they can control their games using home made games controllers! We have made banana keyboards and Miss McDonnell’s even tried an experiment to see how many students could form a chain to create a makey-makey network! WELL DONE TO STUDENTS FOR EXAMS Well done to our students in their exams within the computing department this year, including the A-Level and GCSE Computer Science classes who have worked with Mr Atkinson and the Creative iMedia class who have worked with Mr Taylor.