Is there a difference between GCSE computing and computer science?

[gigglingHyena]

Looking round secondaries and trying to think ahead but I'm getting confused.

I understand the difference between ICT and computer science, but is there a difference between computing and computer science?

It seems that the school offering computing are not doing so much coding in KS2, where the school doing computer science have been very strong in that area. Coding is DSs love and likely to be one of his strongest subject so we want to get this right. Unfortunately it's not as simple as choosing on this one thing alone.

Do you mean KS3 rather than KS2?

I thought all schools offered computer science (with high proportion of coding) these days, but happy to be proved wrong! It's been a fairly recent change though, so maybe you are looking at historic information?

I've just had a DC go into KS4 - he's taking GCSE Computer Science. He didn't do much coding in KS3 - though the school offered an after school computer club where he did more!

I would though, expect a DC with a strong interest in coding to be exploring the subject outside of GCSE anyway, so wouldn't get too hung up on this one point.

Yes, ks4. Could well be out of date information, although it's what we were told at the open day, so that in itself isn't a great sign.

Yes, I meant KS3.

Hi. I have no idea!

My daughter is doing OCR Computer Science which - until last year - was called Computing and possibly had a different syllabus. It seems to involve a lot of stuff about protocols, ram, hardware, sending information. They do coding but it's not examined or marked as coursework. (Possibly a Michael Gove thing; he didn't like coursework). Personally, I think a really good coding project would have been cool.

Gcse computing used to have a controlled assessment element to it. My eldest Ds had to do two controlled assessments for his gcse in 2016. Unfortunately I think that there seemed to be some cheating going on in schools and there was concern that it was causing real problems. My youngest Ds takes it next year and I have a feeling he might have to still do a controlled assessment but the results don't count towards the final grade.

Just the name and a new syllabus. The old syllabus was GCSE Computing. The new 9-1 syllabus is called GCSE Computer Science. The new syllabus has more theory content and is currently 100% assessed in a written exam. A non-marked Programming Project is also carried out.

The current Year 8s, if choosing, will have practical element assessed in an exam but Nov exam board has decided yet how this will be:written/on screen etc.

Oh grrr. See it is a zombie thread