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Frequently Asked Questions about Computer Science Newbies
Who made CSNewbs?
My name is Mr Pulsford. I am from London and I am currently the Head of Computer Science at a secondary school in South Yorkshire, England.
When and why did you make this?
I wanted to make a resource that my students could access outside of the classroom. I was working on a paid summer project at Google in London in 2016 when I was inspired to start the site. I've been updating it ever since as much as I can, outside of lessons and life.
I made CSNewbs to support students in lessons and at home because Computer Science can be a tricky subject and many websites are too technical or peripheral.
Which courses does CSNewbs cover?
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The 'GCSE' section follows the OCR specification (2020) and Eduqas / WJEC specification (2020).
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The 'CTech' section follows the OCR Cambridge Technicals Level 3 IT 2016 specification for Unit 1 (Fundamentals of IT) and Unit 2 (Global Information).
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The 'Programming' section contains material for Python, HTML, Greenfoot and others.
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The 'KS3' section covers basic Computer Science topics aimed at Year 7 - 9 students.
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Do the exam boards pay you money for this?
CSNewbs is not affiliated with any exam board, financially or otherwise. The content on this site has been independently created by closely following the publicly released specifications by Eduqas and OCR.
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Can I get a level 9 / distinction just from CSNewbs?
The content on this website is of high-quality and should be used to guide students towards a better understanding of the course's content. Like all resources however, it should be supported with a range of appropriate material and sound classroom teaching. CSNewbs makes no miraculous claims linking content use and final exam results.​
How did you make this website?
CSNewbs.com was created and is maintained using Wix.
What's the deal with copyright?
CSNewbs is protected by copyright, and copy / paste features have been disabled on the site. All images have either been created by myself or used from Wix's copyright-free vector gallery / their stock image library. Embedded videos are linked to content from the CSNewbs YouTube page. If you think any content on this site infringes a copyright-protected work, please email me, and I will make immediate changes.
I don't see any adverts, how are you making money?
You're right, there are no adverts and I intend to keep it that way. I don't make and never have made any money from this website.
Can you add Unit 3 / OCR A-Level / something else?
The site continues to expand over time with new content. The eventual aim is to cover every exam board for GCSE Computer Science but that will take a lot of time!
How come something on the site isn't working at my school?
Your school's IT administrators may have blocked some elements such as JavaScript or embedded YouTube videos. The videos can be watched directly on YouTube (if not blocked on your school network).
Who is the robot?
The robot is called Questo. It's the site mascot and it appears on most pages to ask you questions about the content ('Questo's Questions'). It used to have a body but since 2020 it's just a head.
I can't believe one person made this whole site while teaching and the rest, what are your long-term plans?
If you work for an exam board or educational resource organisation, and your organisation has opportunities available, please send me an email.
How can I contact the creator of CSNewbs?
The contact email is:
There are social media pages for CSNewbs but with busy times recently they are rarely updated:
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