Science

Key Stage 3 features and summary

In key stage 3 Science, year 7, 8 and 9 students are taught three lessons of Science per week and are taught in groups based on their target grades. Lessons are designed around the purpose of the curriculum and sequenced to ensure that students have the foundations for key stage 4 study and beyond.

Science helps students to develop the following:

• Practical skills
• Team work
• Appreciation of how to work safely and the importance of following instructions
• Scientific literacy
• Numerical skills
• Graphical skills
• Accurate analysis and interpretation of results
• Evaluation of experimental methods.

To help students in their learning and understanding of the topics covered in Years 7, 8 and 9, there are revision guides on sale for £2.00 from the kiosk.

The topics covered in Key stage 3 are outlined in the table below:

KS3 curriculum map

Science Curriculum Map

Key Stage 4 features and summary

GCSE Science Year 10 and Year 11

Students start their GCSE work after Easter in year 9. There are two routes through GCSE Science, Double Award (AQA GCSE Combined Science Trilogy 8464) or Triple Award Separate Sciences (AQA GCSE Biology 8461, Chemistry 8462 and Physics 8463).

Double Award students are set based on ability and are taught 5 science lessons per week. They are taught short topics that cover Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Each topic contains at least 2 short assessments, one covering a Key Concept from the assessment and another covering a Required Practical or Working Scientifically skill.

Parents will be informed of these assessment grades by the School Gateway app.

The topics covered in Key Stage 4 are outlined in the table below.

Required Practicals (RP) for Science:

Triple Award Separate Science, is similar to Double Award Science, however there is extra content for most topics which means the students have six hours of science per week and are taught as three separate subjects, usually by three subject specialist teachers. The final exams are longer and students are awarded three separate GCSEs (GCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics) with 3 separate and unconnected Grades 9-1.

KS4 curriculum map

Science Curriculum Map

Assessment and feedback

The information below explains how students are assessed in each year group, how they receive feedback and how they are supported to improve and make progress in their knowledge, skills and understanding.

Summative assessment:

There are two Summative Assessment tests per year at KS3 and KS4 (called mocks at KS4). These are cumulative in nature and the purpose is:

1. to confirm the track point of the student
2. to promote longer term recall by testing earlier topics and to meet the demands of a linear course.

These are expected to be marked by teachers with appropriate feedback and returned to students for reflection and improvement.

Formative assessment:

ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW

For each topic at KS3 one key concept and one working scientifically skill needed by the students to succeed in science, is assessed through short structured written exam style assessments. At GCSE this is continued with one key concept per topic in addition to the assessment of the required practical in the relevant topics.

Working scientifically and numeracy are very important skill areas that will be assessed in the final exams, so it is important that students attend all lessons and take full part in practical experiments and make every effort to catch up with missed work in their own time.

Exam Board

AQA Useful websites

The AQA website has past papers, mark schemes and the specification all free to download:

Specification, guidance and specimen exam papers.

For Triple Science Award:
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/biology-8461
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/chemistry-8462
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/physics-8463

For Combined Science Double Award:
http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/science/gcse/combined-science-trilogy-8464

My Files » Student Shared Area » Faculty of Science data

All students have access to past exam papers and mark schemes, advice for revision, the physics equations and key words, knowledge organisers, quizzes, contents sheets for each topic and information about the required practicals via the school website, Foldr, Faculty of Science Data, GCSE. This is an excellent place to begin revision.

We have subscribed to a website www.doddlelearn.co.uk which has thousands of interactive PowerPoints that cover all of Science. Your son/daughter has a password to this website and can use it at any time. Their homework record is also visible on this website.

For the new 9-1 GCSE students also have access to https://connect.collins.co.uk/ where they can access the full Biology, Chemistry and Physics text books.

All students have access to GCSE pod, http://www.gcsepod.com/ with podcasts on Science.

Revision guides for sale from the Kiosk at any time. There are lots of other very good websites to support revision, the best being:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/Science/

Revision advice

Science Exam Advice

Science Exam Checklist

Revision-timetable

How to revise for science

Common Units

AQA-Physics-Equations

Co-curricular opportunities

Science Study Club: Every Tuesday 3pm to 4pm; this is a drop in session for all students for help with their Science homework, classwork, revision or any Science questions which students may have. Computers are available for their use.

Year 10 and 11 Revision Class: This is every Thursday, 3pm to 4pm in D026 with Mr. Stopp.

Science Club: We have a fortnightly science club aimed at our younger students. It aims to develop skills through practical science investigations.

In key stage 3, there are trips and competitions in every year group. (These change on an annual basis and students will be informed of the opportunities that they have).

Stretch and challenge opportunities

Teachers diagnose students’ strengths and barriers to learning, and set consistently high expectations to effectively raise the bar, and drive progress for all. As part of a rich curriculum experience, there are numerous learning activities that students can engage in that develop their knowledge and understanding whilst also giving them the chance to develop wider personal skills. These include deep-end problem-solving and extended responses (6 mark questions) writing activities with reduced levels of scaffolded support.

Homework

The information below details the homework set for each year group including length of time it should take and sources of support e.g. Websites or Study Clubs.

Students at KS3 will spend 1 hour in total per week on science homework, and at GCSE, students should spend 1 hour in total per week on science homework per GCSE (so two hours for double award and three hours of homework for separate science students).

Several short (e.g. 10-15 minutes) homework’s given several times a week are expected for students to complete rather than one long piece.