This free document outlines the lessons that can be used to teach Python programming covering the national curriculum requirements for a text based programming language for key stage 3. It outlines the lessons and provides links to make your job easier when searching for a comprehensive, high-quality set of lessons. It also includes a link to an end of unit assessment.

Getting your classroom ready for back to school? Here is a fully editable PowerPoint presentation that contains 60 common computer science words in Welsh and simple student-friendly definitions. They can be displayed as a permanent wall display or you can pick the words to display to compliment your current teaching goals. It is like having a computing dictionary on the walls of your classroom for the students to quickly refer to and can help with spellings of common computer science terminology as well as acting as a reminder of the meanings of computing terms. As it is fully editable you can add to and alter the definitions yourself to make a truly personalised learning wall display for your classes. These terms are suitable for KS3 computing and GCSE computer science classes. Each slide has been adjusted to print on A4 paper and it is recommended you print them in colour for maximum effect. The colours of the key terminology refer to the following categories: Blue – Programming and Algorithms Red – Networks Purple – Computer Systems Green – Cyber security Orange – Binary, Data and Logic With thanks to Dilwyn Owen for the kind translation into Welsh. You can download the English version of this resource from here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/computer-science-word-wall-display-12168842

This FREE simple Christmas activity teaches pupils about how bitmap images are constructed. They need to convert the binary numbers into denary and then use them to create various images. They are shown the final image as well as the binary numbers used to create the bitmap image. Suitable for Year 7 or 8 as a fun Christmas lesson. Please note: the Excel spreadsheet is protected and only some cells are open for the pupils to type into.

This free activity provides a hands-on, practical activity to help your pupils learn about binary to hexadecimal conversion and binary, denary, hex conversions. 2 different puzzles are provided in this resource which are simple to prepare and easy to include in your lessons. SIMPLE HEX PUZZLE In this puzzle pupils need to fit the triangles together so the matching edges are of equal value. One edge will contain a binary number and the other edge will have the corresponding hexadecimal value. Works well as an individual or paired activity. Includes the values from 1 to 15 (1 – F). NUMBER BASES PUZZLE In this puzzle pupils need to fit together squares so the edges match in value. Some are binary values, some are hexadecimal values and some are denary values. This is much harder than the simple hex puzzle and works well as a paired or group activity. Includes the values 0 to 255 (in denary). HOW TO PREPARE THE PUZZLES These are very easy to prepare and can be re-used with multiple classes. You need one printed page for each puzzle you want to use, for instance if you have 30 pupils and want them to work in pairs you will need 15 copies of the puzzle. Print on card or print on paper and laminate for longer durability. Cut into separate shapes along the straight edges and put each set in a separate envelope. Give one envelope to each pair of students and ask them to solve the puzzle. You may want to provide some scrap paper for your students to use to work out the answers, especially for the number bases puzzle. Please note this is a PDF file which cannot be edited. Download this FREE hexadecimal puzzle set today and add it to your teacher toolkit. You’ll be amazed at how effective this activity is at helping your pupils become more confident with converting between different number bases. You may also be interested in these wonderful hexadecimal lessons which include an editable copy of these same puzzles.

A little something to help pass the time through the endless meetings of INSET day. Simply print it out and cross off the items as they undoubtedly occur.

Are you looking to expand your student’s knowledge of Python programming? These Python challenges give students 7 coding activities all focused on extending their knowledge of Python by using map and filter functions and the lambda expression to simplify their code. If you are familiar with my best-selling Python book “Python by Example: Learning to Program in 150 Challenges” by Nichola Lacey, these new challenges will expand on the skills taught and give your student’s more coding practice. Download this wonderful set of Python challenges today to see just how useful they are. WHO ARE THESE PYTHON CHALLENGES FOR? These challenges assume students have some knowledge of programming with Python and know how to use input and print statements, mathematical operators and string manipulation. As well as being familiar with using if statements, for loops, while loops and functions in Python. WHAT IS INCLUDED? This pack includes a single 5 page PDF which gives your students an explanation of using the map and filter functions and the lambda expression, example code and 7 programming challenges for them to work through. You also get another PDF which contains printed versions of the suggested solutions AND you get the Python solutions in Python programs so you can open them and look at the code using an IDLE. HOW CAN YOU USE THESE PYTHON CHALLENGES? These challenges are very flexible and can be used in a variety of ways. The main PDF includes an explanation, example code and a page of Python coding challenges. Students can work through them individually and the attractive PDF handout makes a perfect homework task. Alternatively, you can print out the example code and page of Python challenges to give to your class as a starter, plenary or other in-class activity to enable your students to practise using their new skills. You may even want to isolate the programming challenges into individual tasks, rather than use them as a printed activity to use them in your lesson as small individual coding challenges. They are also ideal for quick finishers or to motivate higher ability students to keep them interested and learning a new skill whilst you help other students who need a little more reassurance of the basics. As you have a separate PDF of the answers you can give them to your class at a later date for them to mark themselves, although most students do not require this as they will discover if their code works when they run it and will debug if they find an error. You could also have the answer sheet ready as a help sheet for those who are stuck and need help. What are you waiting for? Grab your copy of these flexible and highly useful Python challenges immediately. Your students will love them.

This FREE escape room is a wonderful no-prep lesson your students will love to enhance their learning about creating their first text-based programs using Python. Created for year 8 students this escape room combines quizzes, puzzles and sound to test their understanding of important concepts in the introduction to Python programming unit. Absolutely no preparation, no printing and no specialist knowledge required by the teacher and have we mentioned that this escape room activity is absolutely free! What are you waiting for? You have nothing to lose so download it today, now in fact – before you forget! This escape room makes an ideal activity to use as: part of a cover lesson, an end of term activity or a fun homework task. . A fun, educational escape room game this is sure to be a memorable activity your students will adore. HOW DOES IT WORK? This is an activity for part of a lesson and will take approximately 35 to 45 minutes to complete. Ideally students would need headphones to make the most out of this activity, but it can be run without if necessary. Simply give the students the link to the online site (no sign up required) and away they go. Students can work individually or, if you prefer, they can work through this activity in pairs using computers located side by side. The teacher doesn’t need to do anything other than give the students the link to this online activity. All the puzzles and quizzes are self-contained with students getting feedback automatically on their progress. PLEASE NOTE: Students will need internet access in order to play this escape room game. HOW LONG DOES THE ACTIVITY LAST? It takes approximately 35 to 45 minutes to work through all the escape room challenges and makes an ideal end of unit activity to recap the skills they have learnt in the unit. Alternatively set the pupils the escape room as a fun homework task that requires no marking. Simply ask the students to send you a screenshot of the final screen to show they have completed the activity. WHAT IS INCLUDED? When you purchase this activity, you get a PDF document that contains a link to the online escape room. It also includes the answers so you can help pupils who may get into difficulty. What are you waiting for? Grab your copy of this FREE, exciting and educational escape room today to help them recap the skills they have learnt with Python programming. CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ACCOMPANYING PYTHON WORKSHEETS

A great introduction to understanding sorting and searching algorithms including bubble sort, insertion sort, merge sort, linear search and binary search. These ready to use sorting and searching algorithms lessons will save you hours of preparation and can easily be adapted to meet your own requirements. WHAT IS INCLUDED? In this unit you have 3 ready-to-use lessons: Bubble sort Insertion and merge sort Linear and binary search . These lessons include everything you need such as: a very high-quality accessible PowerPoint presentation for every lesson that effortlessly leads the teacher through the lesson and includes all the answers to the many questions and tasks the students need to complete an editable worksheet for every lesson an easy-to-follow editable lesson plan for every lesson . Not only have you got the complete lessons above but if you wanted to extend the unit I have made it extra easy by also including the Python programs (both with and without comments) for each of these algorithms. I have even created handouts for each algorithm written in pseudocode code using the specifics of OCR, AQA and Edexcel. You could use these Python programs to show the code to the pupils and ask them how it works and talk through the code with them comparing it to the algorithm, you could challenge them to add comments themselves to explain the code or use it to demo a working program. If you feel your pupils are able, you could set them the challenge of programming it themselves and use the completed programs as exemplar material to aid pupils who get stuck or even remove some of the code and ask them to complete key areas to make it work. PRIOR LEARNING This unit does expect pupils know what an algorithm is and be familiar with understanding written algorithms and flowcharts. EASY TO USE These ready to use resources are so straightforward that although I have included a lesson plan, most teachers can teach straight from the PowerPoint presentation without any further assistance. And best of all, the answers are included saving you time and energy. This makes these lessons suitable for experienced computing specialist teachers along with non-specialists and early career teachers. EDITABLE RESOURCES I understand that teachers want to adapt their resources, so I’ve made the bold decision to make these resources editable. Therefore, if you need to use a particular template style for your school or pupils with special educational needs, you can change the PowerPoint presentations, worksheets and lesson plans to suit your needs. These lessons are highly interactive and engage students straight from the start. Start reaping the benefits today of incredibly high-quality, professionally designed teaching resources that you can use with virtually no preparation. Just click on the BUY NOW button to download them straight away. You’ll wonder how you ever managed without them.

This lesson teachers pupils about how bitmap images are created and processed and includes topics such as grid size, colour depth and compression techniques. The pupils practice creating simple bit map images and then find an image and practice saving the files in different formats to see the difference between lossy and lossless compression. Suitable for GCSE Computer Science classes and KS3 Computing and ICT classes.

This test is to be given to year 7 pupils to test their current knowledge of key computing areas. This will help you understand their current strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of year 7 and includes a useful spreadsheet which not only highlights pupils understanding but also groups it by class and even primary school to help you inform your feeder schools which areas they need to work on and may need additional help with and which areas they have covered well. The key skills covered in this test are: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, saving files, programming, using the internet, e-safety and computer theory. Due to popular demand, I have interpreted the marks awarded to the old-style level descriptors (i.e. if they score 30 on the test or 45%, this would be equivalent to a 4C). Hope this helps. 2A - 5 marks (7%) 3C - 10 marks (15%) 3B - 12 marks (18%) 3A - 20 marks (30%) 4C - 28 marks (42%) 4B - 36 marks (54%) 4A - 42 marks (63%) 5C - 48 marks (72%) 5B - 54 marks (81%) 5A - 60 marks (90%) 6C - 64 marks (96%) PLEASE NOTE: This test is a paper-based test, if you would prefer the pupils to fill in an on-line document which can be either printed or sent to you electronically then please see our other set of resources from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/computing-year-7-baseline-assessment-on-line-version-11355832

This test is to be given to year 7 pupils to test their current knowledge of key computing areas. This will help you understand their current strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of year 7 and includes a useful spreadsheet which not only highlights pupils understanding but also groups it by class and even primary school to help you inform your feeder schools which areas they need to work on and may need additional help with and which areas they have covered well. The key skills covered in this test are: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, saving files, programming, using the internet, e-safety and computer theory. Due to popular demand, I have interpreted the marks awarded to the old-style level descriptors (i.e. if they score 30 on the test or 45%, this would be equivalent to a 4C). Hope this helps. 2A - 5 marks (7%) 3C - 10 marks (15%) 3B - 12 marks (18%) 3A - 20 marks (30%) 4C - 28 marks (42%) 4B - 36 marks (54%) 4A - 42 marks (63%) 5C - 48 marks (72%) 5B - 54 marks (81%) 5A - 60 marks (90%) 6C - 64 marks (96%) PLEASE NOTE: This test is an on-line document which the pupils fill in using Word, which can be either printed or sent to you electronically for marking but if you would prefer the pupils use a traditional paper-based test then please see our other set of resources from https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/computing-year-7-baseline-assessment-paper-based-test-11355751

One of the most popular FREE teaching resources on TES. Now updated and improved to use the latest version of Scratch. This FREE 6 lesson unit can be used to teach Scratch to KS2 pupils. Grab your copy of this Scratch unit now, your students will love it. WHAT IS INCLUDED? These 6 Scratch programming lessons include attractive dyslexia friendly PowerPoint presentations which include videos to teach the key skills. Easy to follow teacher lessons plans making this suitable for non-specialist teachers. Simple student friendly self-evaluation forms which can be completed either on paper-based worksheets or as on-screen editable PDF files to show students their progress through the unit. Easy to use teacher marksheet in the form of an Excel spreadsheet making your like easier when it comes to reporting on students’ progress. 5 Scratch programs that are partially completed for your students to use along with completed versions for you to use as a demonstration of a possible solution. WHAT DOES THIS UNIT TEACH YOUR STUDENTS? This unit is suitable for pupils in KS2. It does not assume any prior programming knowledge and covers the following guidelines in the National Curriculum: design, write and debug programs that accomplish specific goals, including controlling or simulating physical systems; solve problems by decomposing them into smaller parts use sequence, selection, and repetition in programs; work with variables and various forms of input and output use logical reasoning to explain how some simple algorithms work and to detect and correct errors in algorithms and programs . **NUMBER OF LESSONS ** Recommend 6 x 1 hour lessons, although this will work with slightly shorter or longer lessons. **SUITABILITY ** This project is suitable for mixed ability classes. DIFFERENTIATION Lessons are differentiated by outcome and this is reflected in the success criteria and part of each lesson involves the students working independently, freeing up the teacher to offer more one-to-one help to the students who need it. Download this FREE unit now and take control of your workload. HAVE YOU ALSO SEEN…? You may also like my SCRATCH FLASH CARD BUNDLE to help you with your planning.

This lesson allows pupils to practice using the pen tool in Scratch and uses the ‘repeat’ function to create mathematical shapes. This lesson does assume the pupils have a basic understanding of using Scratch.

Ever wondered what the exam boards mean by a robust program? Here is a working example of a robust program created in Python. It includes the Python program, an SQL database it links to along with a walkthrough PDF explaining the main points of the program. The program displays the following programming skills: Selection Iteration String manipulation Using logical and Boolean operators Creating and calling subprograms Passing variables between subprograms Validation Verification Writing to and reading from an external file Searching for data using SQL Good programming practice Please note: This is a robust program, however that does not make it indestructible :)