The syllabus documents
The NESA pages that define the course: the overview, outcomes, content, assessment and glossary. Start here.
Syllabus overview (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
How the course is organised and the important requirements for student learning.
Course structure and hours (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
How the course is set out, including the hours it can be taught over.
Rationale (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
Why computing technology is taught and the value it brings to students.
Aim (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The purpose of the course, in one statement.
Outcomes (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The course outcomes, such as CT5-SAF-01, and the Life Skills outcomes. These notes use the same codes.
Content: all focus areas (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
Every focus area and its dot points, with the Stage 4 and Stage 5 tags.
Modelling Networks and Social Connections: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Designing for User Experience: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Analysing Data: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Building Mechatronic and Automated Systems: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Creating Games and Simulations: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Developing Apps and Web Software: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The official dot points for this focus area, with the Stage 4 tags for Years 7 and 8.
Life Skills: dot points (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The Life Skills dot points, for students who follow the Life Skills outcomes (the CTLS codes).
Assessment (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
NESA’s assessment materials for this syllabus. Read them before you plan a task you will be marked on.
Glossary (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
NESA’s definitions of the key words in this syllabus. Terms marked NESA in these notes use this wording.
Record of changes (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
NESA’s log of changes to this syllabus, so you can check whether a dot point has changed.
NESA website: Computing Technology 7–10 (2022) (opens in a new tab)
NSW Government · NESA
The NESA page that links to the official syllabus pages. Start here if a link below has moved.
Teaching and learning
NESA’s advice and support material for teaching this syllabus, and its guidance on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priorities.
Teaching and learning support (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The index of NESA’s support material for teaching this syllabus.
Teaching advice (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
NESA’s teaching advice for this syllabus, filtered to Computing Technology 7–10 on the NSW Curriculum site.
Teaching resources (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
The support material NESA lists for this syllabus, filtered to Computing Technology 7–10.
Syllabus introduction videos (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
NESA’s videos that introduce its syllabus support material.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priorities (opens in a new tab)
NSW Government · NESA
How NSW syllabuses include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander priorities, and what teachers should consider.
Safety, privacy and cyber security
The law, the privacy regulator and NSW school rules on keeping data and people safe. Each is the authority on its own topic, not on the syllabus.
Your privacy rights (opens in a new tab)
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
What the Privacy Act 1988 says about your rights over your personal information.
Australian Privacy Principles (opens in a new tab)
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
The rules that organisations covered by the Privacy Act must follow when they handle personal information.
Notifiable data breaches (opens in a new tab)
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC)
When an organisation must tell the regulator and the people affected about a data breach that is likely to cause serious harm.
Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (opens in a new tab)
Federal Register of Legislation
The Act itself, as it is in force now.
Cybercrime Act 2001 (Cth) (opens in a new tab)
Federal Register of Legislation
The Commonwealth law that makes unauthorised access to computer data and systems an offence.
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (opens in a new tab)
Federal Register of Legislation
The law that protects creators’ work, including software, images and music. Check it before you borrow material for a project.
Creative Commons licences (opens in a new tab)
Creative Commons
What each standard licence lets you do with someone else’s work.
Digital devices and online services for students (opens in a new tab)
NSW Department of Education policy
The NSW public school rules on the safe, respectful and responsible use of devices and online services.
Kids Helpline (opens in a new tab)
Kids Helpline (yourtown)
A free, private and confidential phone and online counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25. If something online worries you, tell a trusted adult and know that you can also reach out here.
Privacy at the NSW Department of Education (opens in a new tab)
NSW Department of Education
How the department meets its privacy obligations and what data its websites collect.
Coding and web references
Documentation from the people who maintain these languages, tools and standards. Use it when you write code or build a web page.
Learn web development (opens in a new tab)
Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)
A beginner course on building web pages with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, one step at a time.
Structuring content with HTML (opens in a new tab)
Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)
How HTML marks up headings, paragraphs, links and images so that a page has a clear structure.
CSS styling basics (opens in a new tab)
Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)
How CSS changes the colours, fonts and layout of a page without changing its content.
Dynamic scripting with JavaScript (opens in a new tab)
Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)
How JavaScript makes a page respond when someone clicks, types or waits.
The Python Tutorial (opens in a new tab)
Python Software Foundation (docs.python.org)
The official beginner tutorial for Python, from first steps to classes and modules.
micro:bit (opens in a new tab)
micro:bit Educational Foundation
The official micro:bit site. The micro:bit is a small programmable board with buttons, sensors and lights for physical computing.
Scratch (opens in a new tab)
Scratch (scratch.mit.edu)
A free programming language and online community for making interactive stories, games and animations.
WCAG 2 Overview (opens in a new tab)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The international standard for making web content usable by people with disability.
Introduction to Web Accessibility (opens in a new tab)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Why accessible design matters and who benefits from it.
Web Standards (opens in a new tab)
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
A high-level introduction to the web standards that web pages follow.
Indigenous cultural and intellectual property
Read these before you use Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, stories, art, language or data in a project. NSW schools work with their local Aboriginal communities.
Aboriginal Education (opens in a new tab)
NSW Curriculum · NESA
How NESA supports Aboriginal education, and how schools and teachers can work with their local Aboriginal communities.
Maiam nayri Wingara (opens in a new tab)
Maiam nayri Wingara
The national group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data sovereignty: Indigenous control over data about Indigenous peoples.