Gcse computer science online

[1starwars2]

My DS1 in year 9, is very into coding etc.
It is all self/online learnt as we don't have a clue and his ict at school is very business studies oriented.
The only gcse option at school will be an ict/business studies course.
I am looking for an online course he can study to get a gcse in computer science.
Apart from Google I don't know where to start.
I have emailed his school ict curriculum leader but haven't had a reply.
Anyone done anything similar?

My son is doing GCSE computer science at his school. There is a lot that isn't coding. From the OCR spec

Computer systems worth 50%
Systems Architecture
Memory
Storage
Wired and wireless networks
Network topologies, protocols and layers
System security
System software
Ethical, legal, cultural and environmental concerns

Computational thinking, algorithms and programming worth 50%
Algorithms
Programming techniques
Producing robust programs
Computational logic
Translators and facilities of languages
Data representation

There is a coding element only 20 hours though, compulsory but does not score any marks. So it would depend if the above was something your son would be interested in. Both of my sons love coding but do it like your son in their spare time rather than within class. Ds1 is applying to university this year to do computer science, they don't even want computer science A level just maths and further maths!

OCR spec www.ocr.org.uk/Images/225975-specification-accredited-gcse-computer-science-j276.pdf

Thank you. That's really useful.
A gcse is my idea, not his.
He genuinely enjoys creating things using code.
My thinking is that this might be a good opportunity to formalise it and get a qualification, but maybe that would take the joy out of it.

@1starwars2, both my sons have said that some children end up dropping computer science when they realise that coding is just a small part of it.

As I said you don't need any computer science to do it for a degree and again it is in a similar ilk to GCSE. You have to know what your code does, what it effects etc so you have to understand how systems are built.

If he is enjoying coding, fan those flames. There are a million things out there, online challenges, even government ones like Cyber discovery plus The University of Cambridge recently had an online challenge. Some universities run Easter or summer school programmes for computer science so look at your local one. These are aimed at around year 9 and up to encourage people into IT.

@OnTheBenchofDoom Thanks. Have talked it through with DS and he is quite keen.
I am going to see if he can do the first class with School of Coding, without committing. I think if me or his father had a clue it would really help.
He is interested in how computers work etc, just not so interested in the spreadsheets that seem to be the basis of his ict lessons.

If you are interested in the gcse/iGCSE then you might need to work backwards in a sense - first find somewhere where he can sit the exam (possibly school? Though it doesn't sound as if they offer it as standard, from what you've said), then find out which exam board(s) they offer. Once you know that, you can see if you can find a course provider or, if the plan is to self-study, you can find the exam spec and any relevant textbooks etc.

@1starwars2 Ds's school also offer the ICT course too. I am lucky that Dh is in IT so he is incredibly knowledgeable. However, this didn't influence the children, I am a SAHM with an English lit degree and I really tried to get them to love English lit but failed

The good thing is there are so many resources online and all accessible. It is good to try things out and work out what you like. Ds1 is heavily into ethical hacking (the legal stuff) lots of companies hire "pen testers" to try to penetrate their systems by whatever means necessary. Dh has no clue about any of that sort of stuff but Ds has managed to find lots online, websites etc that have challenges.

Look at twitter accounts from university computer science departments, firstly for inspiration as to what is going on with tech like using VR for dementia patients to recreate dance halls etc something might spark an interest or they will advertise free online courses they are running.

The IGCSE computer science is a popular one for home educators - there are a number of courses you can do online to prepare, you then just need to find somewhere to sit the exam as an external candidate.
PM me if you want more details.

My DS is year 9 too and he is taking a course through a company called LearnTec, working towards the Cambridge IGCSE in Computer Science. He does live online lessons during the daytime but I believe there is an option to follow the course through recorded video lessons too.

DH teaches computer science at uni. As pp have said, maths and further maths are what are actually wanted (DH describes his subject as an obscure branch of higher mathematics which is now inexplicably encouraged in 8 year olds ).

When it comes to interview for new students, he would be far more impressed with some sort of self-motivated home project than with a GCSE, eg built his own computer, wrote his own program to solve a problem he encountered, taught himself more than one useful programming language and used them for things that showcased their particular strengths etc.

Bonus points if you actually achieved something, eg wrote something that could be useful to others, contributed to an open source project on eg Github.

Although - disclaimer - i am an English Lit student and don’t remember most of the techy stuff he tells me so get your DS to do his own research for good ideas.

@RubaiyatOfAnyone - thank you. That's really useful.
He is a good (top set) mathematician, but I don't know if he will go to uni, as he also is poor at organisation and focus. Apart from maths and ict, his predicted grades are quite low. He has a dypraxia diagnosis, although he is not convinced.
I guess I think it is gcse I think he will achieve at, but is not available at his school. Who knows whether it is the right thing to do but maybe it will keep his busy over a lockdown winter....