Skills beyond coding
Designer, developer, project manager, UX & UI designer... these are just some of the hats you'll wear while working through the A Level Computer Science curriculum. The skills gained through this subject such as computational thinking skills, analytical thinking skills and logical thinking skills, are all invaluable and will equip you with a range of tools which can be used to create advanced algorithms. This will give you an insight into how to approach almost any disciple in the future. Through the NEA project, you'll be able to discover methods of 'out-of-the-box' thinking, develop a resilient, determined outlook to working, and realise that it's ok for your solutions to fail on the path to making your ideas a reality, as long as you're open to learning from these mistakes.
Accuracy & Precision
Project Management
Break Down Complex Problems
Make Your Ideas A Reality
Working Under Pressure
Decision
Making
We are here to help!
Our Advanced Coders Courses and Workshops follow the National Curriculum with an emphasis on the hands-on programming components of the syllabus. Throughout these courses and workshops, topics and core coding concepts will be introduced through student-driven projects which allow students to develop their understanding of each phase of a project, including:
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Analysis and decomposing a problem
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Identifying and designing possible solutions
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Developing and implementing a solution
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Testing and refactoring the solution
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Evaluating their proposal and solution
As part of the A Level requirements, Computer Science students must develop practical programming skills as they will encounter each of these phases in their Non-Exam Assessment (NEA) where their ability to apply their skills will be tested and evaluated to prepare them for their futures.
We provide support for both parts of the syllabus:
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COMPUTER SYSTEMS
- Contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices
- Software and software development
- Data types, data structures and algorithms
- Exchanging data
- Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues
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Algorithms & Programming
- Elements of computational thinking
- Problem solving and programming
- Algorithms to solve problems and standard algorithms
We also offer intensive courses and custom workshops on Tkinter, Object-Oriented Programming, SQL DB and more...
Click on the links below for more information about the ALevel Computer Science syllabus for each Examination Board:
Hear what our members have to say...
"I started attending DiscoG Coding Academy at the beginning of Year 13 while I was sitting my Computer Science A-Level exams. I had some health issues throughout the year and I needed to catch up on a lot of work that I missed in school.
Gerard was absolutely incredible in helping me to catch up on missed work as well as teach me new content. He has extensive knowledge of many high level languages including Python which is what he built my knowledge on as well as how to use Tkinter to create a GUI.
As well as coding, Gerard also taught me a lot of the A-Level theory work especially in the OCR Component 2 paper (algorithms). He has many resources which he shared with me and also set me a lot of questions to do in my own time and review together.
Gerard has previously worked in the technology industry therefore when teaching me new languages he also embedded the 'industry standards' in his teaching to ensure that I was not cutting any corners when coding and also made me comment my code as well as document it.
Overall I highly recommend DiscoG Coding Academy for any students who are currently taking Computer Science or even if they have a general interest in computing!
- Kumayl Jetha
"I started DiscoG Coding Academy in Year 12 with little knowledge of Python. Gerard has helped me boost my confidence in tackling challenging coding tasks and has extended my understanding of Python, which assisted me in my A-Level Computer Science. I am truly grateful of the skills I learnt at this academy and feel more encouraged to go into a technology based career.
The skills I have developed such as problem solving, logical thinking and communication can be applied anywhere. I have attained this through volunteering at the academy as well as Gerard's expertise in teaching Python. He encouraged me to 'write/plan my code using images and think of every step required to solve a problem through flowcharts.' This level of teaching is rare and unique.
The atmosphere of the academy is welcoming; Kat and Gerard have done a great job and I would definitely recommend this to any student at any level of learning especially Year 12/13s looking to take Computer Science A-Level or who want to study it at university."
- Alaina Jaffer
"My daughter received her A Level results and got an A in Computer Science. She received a mark of 97% in one of the modules that Gerard taught her. Gerard's teaching methods, professionalism and in-depth knowledge of the subject matter played a big part in helping my daughter achieve her ambition of attending a Russell Group University. She is now studying Computer Science at Nottingham University.
Annabel asked me to extend her thanks for all the guidance, support and exam advice that Gerard has given her over the past two years. She rates Gerard as the best teacher she has had during her entire secondary school education.
Gerard has been an outstanding teacher to both my kids Annabel and Sean over the last four years and I have no hesitation in recommending him to my colleagues and friends! "
- T. Kenny
"Before I started with Gerard my coding ability wasn't really good. I found it so hard to do in school because everyone in my class knew how to code well except for me. So I decided that I needed some help urgently!
That's when I called Gerard and he has helped me out a lot. He taught me not just how to code but how to understand each and every element of code so that I am able to recognise them easily.
His method of teaching is very methodical, as he makes you code in a way that is very efficient, consistent and attractive to the user.
I would fully recommend joining his lessons as he has truly helped me with my ability to code and has given me a sense of belief that I can code."
- Stefaan
"As an A level student who took Computer Science, in which many students struggled throughout the course, I went to Gerard for help. Within one session, I had been taught how to approach real world problems with confidence. I was taught how to break problems into smaller, easier tasks. I was also able to develop my knowledge of Python (the most popular programming language today).Through other sessions, I was able to develop my A level coursework much further with different programming techniques that Gerard taught me. I actually ended up achieving the highest grade in my school for my coursework.
Computer Science is a very hard subject to teach, and this was satisfied by my teachers within school, who definitely struggled to teach many modules themselves, especially programming.
However, I can say wholeheartedly that the two teachers, Gerard and Kat, completely understand how to approach and teach programming as professionals. I have seen this in many classes, and all the students received the best support anyone can ask for.
Therefore, I would definitley recommend anyone who wants to learn or develop their knowledge and practical skills in programming to pay DiscoG Coding Academy a visit."
- Patrick Kelly