Science
Our vision for Science at South Wigston High School is to deliver a 5-year knowledge-based Science curriculum that allows students to be enthused by developing enquiring minds and have the ability to understand aspects of their everyday life. At the same time students need to learn the skills to ask valid questions, understand how to plan and perform valid investigations, and draw conclusions from their results. We want students to understand scientific language and use it to give answers with accuracy and precision.
Our knowledge curriculum is based upon building key ideas and concepts, based on Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, that are constantly revisited and developed throughout the 5 years that the students are with us. During this time students will also sharpen their mathematical skills and hone their investigative skills by using specialised practical equipment to write hypotheses, plan and implement practical experiments, analyse results, and draw conclusions.
Learning Journey
Year 7 & 8
Students will have 3 Science lessons a week.
Content
- In Physics, students are taught about energy and forces
- Chemistry centres around atoms, compounds, and the periodic table
- Biology focuses on cells, organs and systems.
Homework Prep
Students in years 7 and 8 will be issued with knowledge organisers, which will be taken home, to help consolidate their learning. The expectation is that students will learn the key information and increase their ability to recall the knowledge during lesson time.
Year 9, 10 & 11
In years 9, 10 and 11 we then expand on the fundamentals covered in the first two years. We follow the AQA GCSE science specification. Students will be entered either for Triple science or Combined (Trilogy) science.
Students will be well-resourced throughout the curriculum with the knowledge-books written by our expert subject specialists. Our books replace the traditional exercise books that students typically recorded notes on. Instead, they are heavily packed with scientific knowledge, resources and questions. The books focus the lesson time on learning rather than task-driven copying or note-taking. Our students gain significantly more per lesson compared to previous teaching methods. Our books ensure the quality of work taken home is correct and useful to aid further study.
Homework Prep
We also compliment the knowledge books in years 9, 10 and 11 with exam packs (these contain sets of exam questions and answers used to support students with revision and expose them to the art of sitting exam questions). Students in years 9-11 are expected the complete the exam packs, these will be checked on a regular basis to ensure they are completed.
KS4 Revision Guides
KS4 revision guides are HIGHLY RECOMMENDed.
We urge all students to purchase a copy of the CGP revision guide by the time they start year 10 (at this stage, students should know if they are taking the higher or foundation tiers, if you are unsure, please contact the school).
CGP also have other excellent revision materials to support GCSE revision.
Search for the AQA resources when purchasing for KS4.
Assessment
Students experience a wide range of new topics and skills, these skills are then developed in terms of complexity and application. Each topic is assessed in 1-hour assessments once the topic has been taught. These assessments follow a pathway whereby the content and structure become increasingly more developed and specialised over the years. This regular assessment allows our students to have the opportunity to reflect on their own learning and highlight individual strengths and weaknesses alongside any common misconceptions, which can then be addressed.
AQA GCSE Science examinations:
All GCSE Science exams are linear and will take place in the summer of year 11.
Combined trilogy: There are 6 papers: Two Biology, two chemistry and two Physics. Each paper is 1 hour and 15 minutes, marked out of 70 and worth 16.7% of the overall GCSE. Questions are a mixture of multiple choice, structured, closed short answer, and open response.
Separate (Triple) Science: Separate science students will undertake 2 x 1hour 45 minute papers for each of the sciences (6 papers altogether).
Resources
Seneca – suitable for all students this contains tutorials, revision materials and assessments
https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/
Cognito – suitable for students studying GCSE science. Contains assessments, past exam papers and revision videos.
https://cognitoedu.org/home.html
BBC bitesize – suitable for students studying GCSE science. Contains revision materials and assessments.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/z98jmp3
Extending and deepening science knowledge
Students have the opportunity to participate in our Science Club to widen their understanding of science and undertake practical activities to develop those covered in lessons.
All students in year 7 during British Science Week will complete the Discovery CREST award, which allows them to explore and design then evaluate a real-world issue. Students will also be offered the opportunity to attend the BIG BANG FAIR, which is held in Birmingham, focusing on STEM and Careers in Science.
In addition to this we offer additional trips to different year groups to inspire and enthuse students as well as to demonstrate scientific concepts.
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