Curriculum - Subject Information

Science is a core subject that students will study throughout their learning journey.

Reason for sequencing the curriculum for every year group in the way it is, and the subject specific/pedagogical approach taken:

When students arrive in year 7, they have not usually had the opportunity to work in a laboratory setting so the first few lessons are focused on ensuring that they understand the safety requirements and the key skills that are needed in science lessons. They will learn to plan their variables for an experiment, complete a risk assessment, safely light a Bunsen burner and take some results from a simple experiment, recording them in the most appropriate way. At the end of this section, they should be ready to start their learning journey!

After the initial laboratory induction unit, they will begin a series of units in Biology, Chemistry and Physics throughout year 7 and 8 helping them to broaden their science knowledge and understanding in the separate disciplines. These units have been developed by looking at their prior learning in KS2 so that their knowledge and understanding in these areas can be put into practice and by looking towards their pathway through to the start of KS4 where they need to have a firm foundation ready to build on. We use a mixture of direct instruction and practical activities where they can integrate and enhance their practical skills whilst consolidating what they have already learnt. The units through year 7 and 8 allow for a firm knowledge of the basic scientific principles before moving on to more advanced ideas into Y9. The units covered in year 7, 8 and 9 are shown in the table below.

As our students progress to year 9, they begin to build on their KS3 knowledge, deepening their understanding and building a solid foundation of knowledge. These units deal with the key ideas from KS3 and build them up gradually to a KS4 level. This allows us to introduce some breadth to topics which would not usually have been covered in the KS3 curriculum in this way. Teaching these foundational concepts in year 9 allows the teaching in year 10 and 11 to be based upon a firm knowledge and understanding of key ideas that they need to progress to the more challenging concepts. During this time, we can also offer trips and visits relevant to these topics, giving the students experience of STEM careers and ways they can use their science knowledge in everyday life.  They will study each of the three science disciplines as a separate subject whilst building up their specific practical skills in those topics. The topics from KS3 learning will be revisited in more depth and built upon with more detail and with further independent practice as pupils gain more confidence in their understanding. Each science discipline starts with the key concepts in the subject so that these can be practiced and perfected throughout the KS4 journey. Some topics are completed as a whole unit and others have been split across years allowing students to revisit the ideas and build up their understanding and math skills before meeting the more difficult parts of topics.

Students are placed in groups at the start of year 9 based on their prior attainment so that teachers can provide the most appropriate scaffolding levels for the groups and individuals. All pupils will be taught similar basic level content in the root topics in year 9 allowing them to become familiar with the topic and explore in depth at their own level of understanding before progressing to the KS4 GCSE level content in Y10 and beyond. Most of the Triple Science content will be introduced in year 10 and 11 for students who show dedication to their studies and express an interest in following this pathway. The groups are reviewed at the start of year 10 and some adjustments can be made where necessary.

In the sequencing of topics throughout years 7 to 11, the aim is to build up key knowledge within and around topics firmly, giving time to secure in their long-term memory and then retrieving the knowledge regularly so that it can be applied to new situations and concepts within that discipline.

How we build on prior learning:

At the start of lessons, students will complete some retrieval practice activities to ensure that they are regularly revisiting ideas and understanding from previous lessons. These are from previous lessons, topics and subjects and even from previous years, so that a wide range of knowledge can be retrieved easily. This paves the way for their knowledge to be recalled quickly when they need to apply their understanding to new situations.  This retrieval practice is supported by the homework tasks which are short activities or questions that are provided so that pupils can have some more independent practice on the topics previously learned in lessons.

How we prepare students for the future:

It is essential that pupils understand that Science ideas and skills are embedded in their everyday life and will help them whether or not they choose to study science subjects in further education. Throughout science lessons, students will be able to gain an understanding of how these concepts apply to life situations, but there will also be plenty of ideas about how they can choose to study further if particular topics interest them. During key lessons, pupils can explore different careers held by real-life people and how science helps them to reach this point. The topics studied can be expanded on in more detail with STEM trips and clubs and independent reading guidance can be given too.  We would actively encourage pupils to share their interests in science careers with their teachers so we can provide support and encouragement throughout their learning journey.

We build information about different careers into our lessons in science so that students understand that not all scientific jobs will mean the stereotypical career of wearing a lab coat and working in a laboratory. Some examples of careers that would benefit from a firm understanding of science would be plumbing, electrical contracting, trichology, agronomy, farming, hydrology, radiation protection, optometry, hairdressing and even bomb disposal.  In science lessons, students learn many different transferable skills which can be valuable in their future careers. Some examples of these skills are collaboration and team work, problem solving, assessing and reducing risks, organisation and communicating complex ideas.

Additional provision to support learning:

Each classroom has a challenge area that allows students to access A Level work, more challenging GCSE questions and newspaper and magazine articles about topics they may find interesting. As a department, we encourage students to seek help or information outside of lessons if they need to. We have provided several previous trips and visits including to Sizewell Power station, Banham Zoo, BT innovation Centre and some Science lectures aimed at KS4 students in the past.  We have also participated in the Salters Chemistry competition and the Institute of Physics competitions. STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) club has been a highlight of lunchtimes and the paper engineering challenge in Y7 produced some wonderful winning designs. Science week is celebrated with a series of activities, quizzes, experiments and other interesting activities which students across all year groups participate in enthusiastically.

For Year 11, we provide revision sessions once a week starting after their Mock exams to help them to interpret exam question structure and revisit experiments where possible. We are happy to provide extra revision materials for Y11 and other pupils where it might be needed. Resources that might be useful for self-study or catch up are provided for all pupils on the class notebooks available through their class teams pages. This will help pupils to keep up with work missed due to illnesses or other unavoidable reasons for absence.