THE LEIGH UNIVERSITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE – WRITTEN EVIDENCE (YUN0068)

Computer Science at The Leigh UTC

In Year 7,8 and 9 (KS3) all our students in each year group (130 in each year) receive 2 hours per week of computing with focus on coding / programming. They also receive 2 hours per week of engineering in which several projects combine content from each subject area.  E.g. Students explore the use of 3D printing and CAD to support this.

•    At the start of KS4 students can choose between GCSE computer Science and the Digital BTEC route.
•    The year 10 cohort has 3 groups and they each get 3 hours per week. 72 students have chosen GCSE Computer science which is 55% of the cohort.  Additionally, a further 30 students have chosen the BTEC digital route.
•    Our options for September 2021 show that current year 9 have also chosen GCSE computer science in high numbers. We will again run 3 groups each getting 3 hours per week.  Approximately 52% (65 students) of the cohort have chosen this route with further 22 choosing the BTEC Digital IT route.
•    We know that by the age of 14, 75% of our students said they wanted to continue studying our digital / technical routes on offer
•    There is also a big uptake by our female students wanting to follow our technical specialism, proving that given the right circumstances girls want to continue studying in technical education

Compared to all our other GCSE options taken at 14, Computer Science remains extremely popular with our students. 

Students also have additional options such as Art, PE, German, History, Triple Science, Engineering and Business Studies to go with their core subjects of English, Maths and Science.

18th June 2021