Teaching Staff

• R Brown
• S Collinson
• S Ford
• D Hooper
• M Landles
• L Lumley-Imerson
• P McAdam (Director of Learning)
• D Riley
• C.Rogan (Lab Technician)
• J Song
• L Wilson

Curriculum Intent

Science is a multi-faceted subject which encompasses numerous skill sets. Students learn:

• Transferable skills such as scientific numeracy including collecting and displaying data, graphical skills and data analysis.
• Investigative skills- promoting questioning and reasoning of the world around them.
• To participate in debates around numerous ethical issues such as; energy sources, human impact on the environment and genetic testing.
• Practical work deepens students understanding of the relevance of science through engaging activities and allowing students to apply their understanding and to broaden their general knowledge.
• Science also offers opportunities to consolidate the whole school curriculum with cross links between many subjects including; geography, maths, food sciences, PE and history.

Key Stage 4

We examine via AQA and most students follow the Combined Science- Trilogy route, allowing them to achieve two GCSE’s through studying a combination of Biology, Physics and Chemistry. Students can also elect to study Separate Science’s when they choose their GCSE options and this course provides students with three separate GCSE’s- one in each Science.

There are six papers to complete for both courses. The papers for combined Science last 1 hour 15 minutes and the papers for the Separate course last for 1 hour 45 minutes to allow for the extra content to be examined.

The breakdown of the papers is as follows:

• Biology Paper 1: Cells, Organisation, Infection and Response, Bioenergetics
• Biology Paper 2: Homeostasis and Response, Inheritance Variation and Evolution, Ecology
• Chemistry Paper 1: Atomic Structure and the periodic table, Structure and bonding, Chemical Calculations, Chemical changes, Energy changes.
• Chemistry Paper 2: Rates and Equilibrium, Organic Chemistry, Chemical Analysis, The Earth’s Atmosphere, The Earth’s Resources.
• Physics Paper 1: Energy, Electricity, Particle Model of Matter, Atomic Structure
• Physics Paper 2: Forces, Waves, Magnetism and Electromagnetism (Space- Separate Physics only)

Course layout

Due to the practical nature of the subject students are cover the topics on a rotation basis so that different classes are studying units at different times across the year to accommodate for equipment demands. Generally speaking all students will have covered paper 1 topics for all three Sciences by the end of year 10 and all of paper 2 topics by the end of year 11.

Throughout the course students develop practical skills such as planning, developing and testing hypotheses, collecting and interpreting data and evaluating outcomes and methodology. Students also consider the ethical implications of the sciences such as: the use of GM technology, developing medicine using STEM cell technology, extracting and using Earths resources, renewable energy resources.

Learning Journeys