Welcome to Science
“Science is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”
Our students are the professional young men and women of tomorrow; our scientists of the future!
As a Science department we are committed to giving learners a better knowledge and understanding of the world around them and how things work. We believe all learners can enjoy and be successful in Science regardless of their ability or background.
We aim to develop learners’ knowledge, understanding and skills through a well-structured five-year science curriculum plan supported by a range of extra-curricular activities that support growing scientific minds.
The St. Augustine’s Science Learning Journey
As a department we have looked at what is the best route for our journey through the science curriculum. We have strived to look at building a curriculum that:
- Is accessible to all our students and therefore inclusive;
- Shares the passion for science that we as science teachers have;
- Builds on the skills and knowledge from primary school;
- Covers all three science disciplines (biology, physics and chemistry);
- Is sequenced in a way that builds skills and knowledge year on year;
- Regularly revisits work to ensure that knowledge is retained and not lost;
- Meets, within the first three years, all of the requirements of the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum and provides a fantastic foundation to support all the learning involved in GCSE science;
- Prepares them for further study in science and directs them to science-based careers;
- Is fun!!
Our Science Curriculum has been developed as a five-year model using:
Our curriculum is built on the development of 10 Science ‘Big Ideas’ over a 5-year journey.
The ‘Big Ideas’ (TABLE TO FOLLOW)
A Sequence to Build Understanding
Each Big Ideas has been split into a number of smaller sections. As students move through Key Stage 3 the sections build in complexity. The Forces section from our Five-Year Plan has been used as an example:
TABLE TO FOLLOW
Students start by looking at ‘Speed and Gravity’ in Year 7. In Year 8, students move to the more complex topic of ‘Contact Forces’ and on to ‘Pressure’ in Year 9.
Every time a new unit is introduced, work from the previous unit is revisited to ensure that knowledge and understanding has been retained, which will ensure success for students as they encounter more complex ideas.
With the commencement of Year 10, the students will have had a good foundation to progress to the GCSE unit of ‘Forces in Balance’ and then onto ‘Motion’ and ‘Forces in Motion’ in Year 11.
A more detailed breakdown of each of the Big Ideas and further detail on our rationale can be found in the document Curriculum Intent Plan
Our Five-Year model of how all the units fit together can be found in the documents Science Curriculum Plan Implementation Map and Five Year Model Summary
A Time of Change
The Five Year Model Summary gives the position that we ultimately want for all our students. February after Half Term 2020 was a time of big change in terms of how we deliver our curriculum. We plan to phase all our students into the new model. The plans for each year group can be found using the following links:
Five Year Model Summary Year 7
Five Year Model Summary Year 8
Five Year Model Summary Year 9
Five Year Model Summary Year 10
Five Year Model Summary Year 11
Resources to Support Learning
As we move through each year if our Five Year Curriculum we will each week have a unit that we will revisit to help re-enforce key knowledge which will help students in developing a really strong foundation to build on in earlier years that will provide an excellent foundation.
We have an online text book for every student that can be accessed through Kerbooble:
Guidance on how to activate your own Kerboodle Account can be found in the video below (If you are struggling with your access please see Mr Pollard)
Also, we have guidance on how to use the online books HERE
Year 7
- Activate Book 1
Year 8
- Activate Book 1
- Activate Book 2
Year 9
- Activate Book 2
- AQA Biology for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
- AQA Chemistry for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
- AQA Physics for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
Years 10 & 11
- AQA Biology for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
- AQA Chemistry for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
- AQA Physics for GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy
For GCSE we strongly recommend the site Primrose Kitten which provides YouTube clips for all aspects of the AQA Trilogy examination. By accessing the Primrose Kitten website you can get a Free Revision Guide. A guidance sheet for accessing this free resource can be accessed HERE (link to follow). We would recommend going through the website as they will send you really useful updates and other resources that are available.
If you are struggling with accessing the guide through the website please see Mr Pollard. You can also directly access the Free Revision Guide HERE
We also highly recommend the use of SENECA Learning to support students at both Key Stages 3 and 4.
Blast From The Past
Each year we will produce ‘Blast from the Past’ guides that will use the online textbooks (through Kerboodle), the Primrose Kitten Free Revision Guide , SENECA Learning and Knowledge Organisers to focus on a different unit each week and help students prepare In School Assessments and GCSE Mocks and Final Examinations.
The documents for each year group can be accessed below:
