How the programme is structured
The programme runs across 8 units holding 82 written lessons. Every unit below lists what it covers and what the student walks away having built.
Need the lesson-by-lesson breakdown? Open the full lesson plan — every lesson with its code, type and milestone.
Decomposition & abstraction, pseudo-code & flowcharts, trace tables, efficiency, and the searching and sorting algorithms.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Algorithms
Data types, the three constructs, operators, arrays & records, strings, subroutines, and robust & secure programming.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Data & variables
- Control flow
- Operators
- Data structures
- Input, output & strings
- Subroutines & structure
- Robust & secure programming
Number bases, units of information, binary arithmetic, character/image/sound encoding and data compression.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Number bases & conversion
- Units & binary arithmetic
- Encoding text, images & sound
- Compression & review
Hardware & software, Boolean logic, software classification, translators, and systems architecture (CPU, memory and storage).
🧭 What this unit covers
- Hardware, software & logic
- Software & languages
- Systems architecture
- Memory, storage & review
Network types & topologies, hardware, the internet & DNS, protocols, the TCP/IP layers, packet switching and encryption.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Networks & topologies
- The internet & hardware
- Protocols & layers
- Security & review
Threats — social engineering, malware, brute force, DoS, interception and SQL injection — plus how to detect and prevent them.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Threats — people & malware
- Technical attacks
- Detection & prevention
- Review
Databases vs flat files, tables/records/fields, primary & foreign keys, and SQL — SELECT, WHERE, LIKE, ORDER BY and INSERT.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Relational concepts
- SQL — retrieving data
- Inserting & combining
- Review
Privacy, ethical & cultural issues, the three UK Acts, software licensing, environmental impacts and extended-response technique.
🧭 What this unit covers
- Issues & frameworks
- UK legislation
- Environment & evaluation
- Review