computer science teachers - any advice please?

[seekingasimplelife]

Hi - sorry if this is the wrong place for this (new poster)- I am a parent not a teacher. I'd really appreciate some advice from computer science teachers as I'm a bit stumped as what to do.
My DC in KS 3 is identified as very able. Mostly school is doing a fantastic job of assessing abilities and he is enjoying his learning. BUT in computer science, he tells me he's way beyond other children in his class, and doing work he could manage easily at least 3 years ago. No one seems to have picked up on it. I'm a bit of a technophobe so I've no idea if the curriculum is planned to just review what has been introduced and will quickly move on, or if it's really way too easy for his ability and knowledge.
For context I've asked him what he would like his teacher to know he can do, and he has said:
Understand and use all Microsoft Office applications, Excel, Powerpoint etc; confident at Video editing (edits videos for You-Tubers of up to 30,000 subs); Using Lua code to script online games and is making small sums of money each week from doing this; basic GFX designs (I don't know what this means!!), Green screens, creating thumb nails, Created own web pages and twitter for online promotions.
My question - is this above the level he will be working at in KS3? If so, how best to approach his school about it?

Yes, this is above the level he will be working at KS3.

It is entirely possible that it is also above the level of the teacher - computing is often taught by non-specialists at KS3.

I would suggest that you contact the school but be prepared to extend his skills though extra-curricular means rather than in lessons.

Thanks so much, noblegiraffe, that's very helpful. My son has told me he knows more than the teacher, but I wasn't sure whether to believe him! I can see why this would be the case with a non-specialist.
Much appreciated.

When my DS was in Yr7 the CS teacher realised his abilities after he sent her some way over the top homework assignments! after that she left him to his own devices as long as he was vaguely working on the same topic as the rest. You could negotiate him working at a higher level, eg now my DS is working on A-level projects in Yr9. It sounds from what you have said that he is working more at IT and less Computer science - perhaps he could develop some general coding skills using scratch or similar?

Thanks handmade. Useful to hear others' experience of similar situation.
I've now approached the school department and have been reassured that they will undertake a detailed assessment of current skills, and adapt work next term.
My son is already coding to develop online games, and is earning a bit of money from this; as well as volunteering with larger collaborative projects on more well known ventures, to gain experience. He won't use Scratch as he says it's much too easy for him.

I'm concerned because he's already thinking about not taking CS as a subject for GCSE because it's so easy (and hence boring). His actual words were ' You just don't understand..there's nothing there they can teach me in CS that I don't already know'.
I've no idea if this is even vaguely likely to be the case, so it's helpful to hear about levels at KS3 and how other children have managed if their knowledge is out of sync with the key stage. I am very much in the dark as far as the technology goes, so I'm basing my comments solely on what my child is telling me.

Key stage 4/GCSE will be different as there's a lot more of the theory side, and a lot more actually coding (plus pseudo code). The practical element has an element of choice involved and can be coded in different methods based on the students knowledge and ability.

Has he taken a look at the gcse syllabus?

Great idea to look at the GCSE syllabus, Aragog, thank you. We have had a look online this evening. It seems to be at his level, and some things he seems confident he can manage already.
I guess the issue will be that he still has several years of KS3 curriculum before he reaches KS4. I've had a positive response from the school department so I'm hopeful this will be addressed in due course.