Welcome to our ICT Learning Area!

ICT is everywhere and so we believe it is important that all pupils can use ICT efficiently and enjoy doing so. It is a very popular, fun and successful subject area within Glengormley High School achieving excellent results each year and as a core subject, we want to inspire all students to learn more about ICT. Glengormley High School has superb ICT facilities boasting over 350 machines.

Through the Key Stages we learn about Graphics, Video Editing, Animation, Website Design, Programming, Database Design, Spreadsheets, Multimedia Presentation, Desk Top Publishing, Podcast Design, E-Safety and much more!

As well as practical skills, students will develop important skills for the world of work such as planning and organisation of work, problem solving and presentation, identifying users’ needs, producing solutions and evaluating what has been developed. We deliver this in fun ways and it’s great to see our pupils’ creative abilities being realised.

 

Teaching Staff

The ICT teachers are extremely dedicated and all share a passion of teaching ICT to our pupils, always putting the pupils’ needs and abilities to the forefront of everything that we do.

Mrs J A Stewart – Head of ICT

Mrs T Moore – ICT Teacher

Mrs L Handley – ICT /Business Studies Teacher

Mr B Guiney –  ICT Teacher, Numeracy Coordinator, E learning coordinator

Mr E Mackie – ICT Teacher, E learning coordinator

 

KS3

Students in Key Stage 3 follow a dynamic and engaging ICT course. The programme of study has been designed to excite and educate students about the practical uses of ICT. Our schemes of work have been developed in-house and provide learning opportunities for all students.

Year 8	Year 9	Year 10
Word Processing	Spreadsheets	Desk Top Publishing
PowerPoint	Movie Creation	Webdesign
Graphics	Computer Game	HTML
Scratch Programming	Python	Database
Digital Recording

 

KS4 – GCSE

The ICT department believe that ICT is an important qualification for all pupils therefore we offer 3 different courses to suit individual pupil needs and abilities.

CCEA GCSE Digital Technology

Through studying GCSE Digital Technology, students become more independent users of ICT who can make informed decisions about its use. They have opportunities to apply creative and technical skills and develop their knowledge and understanding in a range of contexts. During practical lessons pupils develop their own ICT-based solutions using web design and database software to solve problems.

CCEA Occupational Studies

This is a practical course during which pupils must complete 2 units of study. This is a fun course and pupils enjoy seeing their final products

As well as practical skills, students will develop important skills for the world of work such as planning and organisation of work, problem solving and presentation, identifying users’ needs, producing solutions and evaluating what has been developed.    

IT USERS

IT USERS is a BTEC course which is practical in nature.  Pupils complete 4 practical assignments outlined below.  All components must be fully completed in order to pass the course.  This qualification is equivalent to a B at GCSE level.

Content	Assessment
Using ICT to Improve Productivity	Pupils use tools in Microsoft Word to help develop materials for a business.
Desk Top Publishing	Pupils plan and create 4 publications to promote a band.
Web Development	Pupils plan and develop a 6 paged website
Presentation Software	Pupils plan and develop a six slide presentation complete with animation, video and sound.

 

KS5

Pearson BTEC Level 3 Extended Certificate in Information Technology

The ICT department develop excellent relationships with our sixth year students and each year the results produced in this course are fantastic. The specification encourages candidates to develop broad skills and knowledge and understanding of the ICT sector.

Due to our excellent results in this course (100% A* to C in 2019), each year many of our students go on to third level education.  Many go into a computing related course and others use it to get onto courses in different fields.  For those students wishing to go straight into employment this is an excellent qualification to have.

Students study four units over the 2 years:

Unit	Content	Assessment
Unit 1	Information Technology Systems	External assessment Written exam (2hrs)
Unit 2	Creating Systems to Manage Information	External assessment Completed on computer using Microsoft Access (5hrs completed over 2 days)
Unit 3	Using Social Media in Business.	Internal Assessment
Unit 6	Website Development	Internal Assessment

 

Links to Relevant Careers 

CAREERS A _ Z   – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/career-z-list

TEN TYPICAL JOBS GRADUATES CAN DO IN IT –  https://targetjobs.co.uk/career-sectors/it-and-technology/286189-ten-typical-jobs-graduates-can-do-in-it

IT JOBS: CAREER OPTIONS – https://www.thebalancecareers.com/list-of-information-technology-it-job-titles-2061498

WHY STUDY IT – https://successatschool.org/advicedetails/387/careers-in-ict

 

Please feel free to contact the department via email should you have any questions about the ICT Department or any of the courses which we offer.