I have recently been involved in some department meetings that have been to discuss the relevant topics and schemes of work for the next academic year in my home school. The way this has worked is the Head of IT has emailed us out a list of the various areas in the curriculum that have gaps and need schemes of work. We have previously discussed how these schemes of work for year 7-9 relate toe the national strategies and national curriculum.
I have personally been involved in creating some marking levels for year 8 assessments according to the levels set out here http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/subjects/key-stage-3/ict/Level-descriptions/index.aspx
It has also been very interesting talking to my mentor about the future of GCSE and he has said that if he could he would ask pupils to do the ICT iGCSE as this is a academic route that does not require anny coursework assesment.
Currently the School are going to do the ICT functional skills by edexecel it is apparently a good course as it does not require the pupils to do all the work independently without the use of scaffolded work for coursework. It is all assessed through exams.
I have been involved with coming up with the mini projects that help the pupils learn all the basic skills for the GCSE. The point is to get the pupils the do the tasks again and again practicing the skills so that they remember them for the exam. I helped with comming up with a game project unit to design and sell a game including the planning and marketing.