Science

Our aim is to open our students’ eyes to the wonder of science and its ability to answer the ‘big questions’ and explain all natural phenomena: from the smallest subatomic level, up to the vast macroscopic scale of the universe.

Our Intent:

Equip all students to be able to understand the science that affects their daily lives and how science will impact their futures and that of the world and beyond.
Inspire passion for learning science, its ability to answer ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions and to appreciate that science is in constant development as new observations are made.
Deliver a knowledge-rich curriculum with opportunities for students to enhance and extend their knowledge beyond the classroom.
Develop confident scientific communicators who can describe, explain and scrutinise current and pre-existing scientific ideas.
Embed scientific literacy and numeracy skills throughout the science curriculum.
Ensure that subject content is sequenced to build understanding and that there is a balance between teaching scientific concepts and supporting students to be able to ‘work scientifically’.
Support students to select the most appropriate GCSE course option for them and subsequently to achieve the best grades possible at GCSE and beyond.
Encourage students to study and work in science beyond year 11 and nurture their wider interest through: stretch and challenge in lessons; structured extension work; directed access to wider reading and extra-curricular opportunities.

Year 7

The Key Stage 3 curriculum is based around the Exploring Science course (created by Pearson Education).

All classes start the year by studying the topic ‘Safety and Skills’ to acquaint themselves to working in the lab and its associated risks.

The rest of the topics are listed below under each term’s subheading. The exact order of the topics within the terms varies slightly class to class, this is to allow for sharing of practical equipment.

The students do 3 exams in Year 7; two milestone tests and one End of Year exam.

Milestone 1 (Nov/Dec) 35minutes: Cells, Forces and Particle Model

Milestone 2 (Feb/March) 35minutes: Sound, Mixtures & Separation and Reproduction

End of Year Exam (June) 60 minutes: Any year 7 topic studied so far (except Ecosystems).

The Student Site has the lessons slides and we advise using that along with the knowledge organiser to aid revision.

Year 8

The Key Stage 3 curriculum is based around the Exploring Science course (created by Pearson Education).

All classes start the year by studying the topic ‘Safety and Skills’ to (re)acquaint themselves to working in the lab and its associated risks.

The rest of the topics are listed below under each term subheading. The exact order of the topics varies slightly class to class, this is to allow for sharing of practical equipment.

The students do 3 exams in Year 8; two milestone tests and one End of Year exam.

Milestone 1 (Nov/Dec) 35minutes: Food & Nutrition, Combustion and Fluids

Milestone 2 (Feb/March) 35minutes: Breathing, Periodic Table, Earth & Space and Light

End of Year Exam (June) 60 minutes: Any year 7 or 8 topic studied so far (except Rocks).

The Student Site has the lessons slides and we advise using that along with the knowledge organiser to aid revision.

Year 9

This year is considered a bridging year between the KS3 curriculum and the KS4 GCSE Curriculum. The exact order of the topics varies slightly class to class, this is to allow for sharing of practical equipment.

The first half of the Y9 Science curriculum will be dedicated to completing the Key Stage 3 Science Curriculum, which is based around the Exploring Science course (created by Pearson Education). This is completed until the December holidays.

The topics that will be covered are:

Genetics and Evolution

Reactivity

Forces and Motion

The latter half of the year (Jan onwards) is spent starting the AQA GCSE topics across all three sciences.

The topics that will be covered are:

Biology: ‘B1: Cell Biology’ and ‘B4: Bioenergetics’

Chemistry: ‘C1: Atomic Structure and The Periodic Table’ and ‘C5: Energy Changes’

Physics: ‘P1: Energy’

The decision as to whether or not which students will study the Combined or Triple Science courses in Y10 and Y11 will be taken at the end of this academic year, following the results of the Y9 End of Year examinations, end of topic tests results throughout the year and their effort in class.

Year 10

In Y10 all students continue studying the AQA GCSE Science courses and will work towards either the Triple Science qualifications (where three separate GCSE grades acquired at the end of Y11, one in each Science subject) or the Combined Science qualification (where a double GCSE grade on a 17-point scale: 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, …., 8-8, 9-8, 9-9 is acquired at the end of Y11, which is an average across all three sciences).

All Y10 students, regardless of whether they study the Triple or Combined Science courses, have 6 lessons of science a week, arranged in 3 double lesson slots. They usually have three separate teachers, one for each of the Sciences: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

The topics that will be studied in Y10 are:

Biology:

B2: Organisation

B3: Infection and Response

B7: Ecology

Chemistry:

C2: Bonding, Structure and the Properties of Matter

C3: Quantitative Chemistry

C4: Chemical Changes

C7: Organic Chemistry

Physics:

P2: Electricity

P3: Particle Model of Matter

P5: Forces (combined topics only)

P6: Waves

Y10s have End of Topic tests every time we finish a topic and they have a set of mocks in April/May (Paper 1 content).

This informs whether their tier needs to change (Higher or Foundation).

Year 11

In Y11 all students continue studying the AQA GCSE Science courses and will work towards either the Triple Science qualifications (where three separate GCSE grades acquired at the end of Y11, one in each Science subject) or the Combined Science qualification (where a double GCSE grade on a 17-point scale: 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, …., 8-8, 9-8, 9-9 is acquired at the end of Y11, which is an average across all three sciences).

All Y11 students, regardless of whether they study the Triple or Combined Science courses, have 6 lessons of science a week, arranged in 3 double lesson slots. They usually have three separate teachers, one for each of the Sciences: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

The topics that will be studied in Y11 are:

Biology:

B5: Homeostasis and Response

B6: Inheritance, Variation and Evolution

Chemistry:

C6: The Rate and Extent of Chemical Changes

C8: Chemical Analysis:

C9: Chemistry of the Atmosphere

C10: Using Resources

Physics:

P5: Forces (triple content only)

P6: Waves (finishing from Y10)

P7: Magnetism and Electromagnetism

P8: Space (Triple Science Only)

Y11s have End of Topic tests every time they finish a topic and 2 mocks; one in November (Paper 1 content) and one in February (Paper 2 content) (core mocks only).

Extra Curricular

P7:

Eco School

Zoology

Models/ Drones club (run by the DT department)

Rockets (run by the DT department)

Lunchtime

STEM club

Science Hub

Annual Events:

Science week (March)

Competitions/ Awards:

We are hoping to launch our KWS Science Communicators Award later this year: more details to follow soon. External competition opportunities will also be passed on to the students in lessons and via assemblies and emails, for example: the British Science Week poster competition.

To supplement and complement our curriculum and extra-curricular offering we also are producing teacher-approved super-curricular summaries, which are succinct summaries of quality video clips and reading materials to help consolidate and extend student learning. These are under construction but will be present for all KS3 topics before Christmas 2022. You can access these in the ‘Biology Super-curricular’, ‘Chemistry Super-curricular’ and ‘Physics Super-curricular’ sections at each of the links below:

https://sites.google.com/kwschool.co.uk/sciencestudents/year-7-topics

https://sites.google.com/kwschool.co.uk/sciencestudents/year-9-ks3-topics