Our Curriculum

At Philip Southcote School, ICT provides students with a purposeful and engaging learning experience that equips them with essential digital skills for life beyond school. These skills support independence, further education, and employment, ensuring students can confidently and competently use technology in real-world contexts. The curriculum is designed to build independence and transferable skills that prepare students for adulthood.

Through ICT, students learn to communicate, create, and problem-solve using technology. They develop practical skills that promote safe and responsible online behaviour, creative thinking, and resilience when tackling new challenges. Every element of the curriculum is linked to real-life application, helping students understand how technology supports everyday life and future careers.

In Key Stage 3, students build foundational skills through practical activities using Office 365 and other applications. They learn basic PC use and hardware, online safety and digital responsibility, email communication, image and graphic manipulation, HTML website building, programming and coding, presentation and word processing, and spreadsheet use for data handling. These experiences provide the knowledge and confidence to apply similar skills in further education or the workplace.

In Key Stage 4, students consolidate and extend these skills through accredited modules in presentation software, spreadsheet software, imaging software, word processing, desktop publishing, and email. They complete assessed tasks that demonstrate competence and apply ICT in practical and purposeful ways. The curriculum ensures students leave with a strong foundation in digital literacy and the ability to adapt to new technologies.

The ICT Skills Ladder supports students in developing foundational knowledge and building connections with new learning. This approach aligns with cognitive load theory, ensuring content is sequenced and structured to reduce overload and support long-term retention.

Skills focus:

• Using Hardware: Logging in, navigating devices, and recognising online dangers.
• Communication: Emailing, organising text and images, and sharing information safely.
• Editing & Presentation: Formatting, sequencing instructions, and creating professional documents.
• Sequencing: Coding and structuring tasks logically.
• Problem Solving: Using spreadsheets, creating interactive presentations, and programming.

In addition, the curriculum fosters a broad range of personal and interpersonal skills that develop progressively, including:

• Confidence, independence, and resilience when using unfamiliar IT systems.
• Effective communication using IT.
• Responsible digital citizenship and online safety awareness.
• Creative thinking through multimedia and design tasks.
• Research and information filtering to support informed decision-making.
• Logical thinking and sequencing through programming activities.
• Presentation skills tailored to specific audiences.
• Confidence in sharing work and ideas with others.

ICT is embedded in real-life contexts, enabling students to experience technology as it is used in workplaces and everyday life. Skills such as online safety, digital communication, and data handling are taught with clear links to independence and employability. Students leave Philip Southcote School confident in their ability to use ICT systems effectively, ready for college, sixth form, or the world of work.