PARENTS+and+CARERS

=Welcome= ===We would like to be able to work with you to be able to support your child in learning about ICT and Computing. We have used this wiki in school for a couple of years now, but realise that it will be more helpful if you are also able to see what your child will be doing in school, what the homework is, how it will be marked, and what evidence we are looking for while grading your child's work.===

LESSONS AND HOMEWORK
===The lessons are set out in a table, with the homework, and homework links added for each lesson - see for example HERE. If your child is ill, or has missed a lesson for any reason you can see what work the rest of the class will have covered, and what the homework for the next lesson is.===

===If your child has any difficulty getting access to computers or the Internet to produce the homework he or she is welcome to come and do it in one of the ICT Network rooms at lunchtime, although he or she is advised to do it several days in advance as the rooms are occasionally used for clubs or meetings when it would not be possible to do homework.===

NATIONAL CURRICULUM LEVELS
===Most of the students are NC level 3 when they arrive in the school. Some will have done more ICT than others. We aim to make it easier for the students to see what they need to do to gain a certain level, so we have added SUCCESS CRITERIA to the bottom of every lesson - a typical example is towards the bottom of the page HERE. The list shows levels 3 to 7, but we are not expecting every student to aim for the highest level, this is a tool for us to help the students to work towards the next level up. All students know their current level, and what their target is for the end of KS3 (year 9). Some students will naturally find some things easier, and will produce some work at one or two levels higher than the rest of their work. Obviously, the decision on the current NC level for your child is based on professional judgement, and an overview of all of the work done to date.===

HOMEWORK MARKING
===In addition to the marking that we do of your child's work we also expect students to evaluate their own homework, and we find that they have a very good idea of what is required at their level. There is a page HERE, which helps the students to see what it is that we are looking for in their homework. As homework can take many different forms over the whole year it is written as general guidelines. We hope that this is also helpful to you when your child has ICT homework. As a general guideline we would expect your child to spend about 18 - 20 minutes on ICT homework, although it may be less, or more, as required.===

===We aim to be available to support students, and we are usually available to help at lunchtimes. Please remind your child that we are there to help, and that if they are having difficulty with any aspect of ICT or Computing, then they should come to us as soon as they are having difficulties.===