- OFSTED says "Students achieve well across the school."
- OFSTED says "Teachers' secure knowledge, and often great enthusiasm for their subject, helps students enjoy learning and make improving progress over time."
- OFSTED says "Attitudes to learning in all areas of the school are very positive."
- OFSTED says "Students feel very safe and secure in their school."
- OFSTED says "The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to the Parent View survey would recommend the school to others."
- OFSTED says "Students achieve well across the school."
- OFSTED says "Teachers' secure knowledge, and often great enthusiasm for their subject, helps students enjoy learning and make improving progress over time."
- OFSTED says "Attitudes to learning in all areas of the school are very positive."
- OFSTED says "Students feel very safe and secure in their school."
- OFSTED says "The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to the Parent View survey would recommend the school to others."
Computing
The Computing department at Whitworth Community High School aims to equip students with the skills to participate in a rapidly-changing world through challenging and engaging practical and theoretical topics. Students will develop an understanding and application in the fundamental principles of Computing by having the opportunity to write programs, design web pages and produce professional digital products.
The national curriculum for Computing aims to ensure that all students:
- can understand & apply the fundamental principles & concepts of computing, including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation
- can analyse problems computationally, & have repeated practical experience of writing computer programs in order to solve such problems
can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies, analytically to solve problems
- are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication technology.
All stakeholders are clear in how the subject is delivered, ensuring our students leave with the skills to fully embrace a future of rapidly advancing computer technology. Computing skills are a major factor in enabling children to be confident, creative and independent learners and it is our intention that children have every opportunity available to allow them to achieve this.
Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide sufficient opportunity for guided and independent practice. We use Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction (2012) to develop our teaching practice:
- Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning
- Present new material in small steps with student practice after each step
- Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students
- Provide models
- Guide student practice
- Check for student understanding
- Obtain a high success rate
- Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks
- Require and monitor independent practice
- Engage students in weekly and monthly review
