Science Curriculum Statement

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. The science curriculum at Maple fields is planned to meet the specific needs of our students whilst the content taught is consistently linked to the national curriculum. Planning of this subject area aims to prepare students for a brighter future by developing their scientific understanding in line with our curriculum drivers.

Communication

• Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, our pupils are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They are encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
• Our pupils are encouraged to be able to describe associated processes and key characteristics in common language, but they should also be familiar with, and use, technical terminology accurately and precisely. They should build up an extended specialist vocabulary.

Healthy Relationships

• ‘Working scientifically’ specifies the understanding of nature, processes and methods of science and requires our pupils to work in groups.
• Students are encouraged to share ideas and develop their understanding through guided discussion.

Self-Worth

• Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, our pupils are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation, we aim to empower students to base their understanding of the world around reliable evidence.
• Gaining qualifications enables our pupils to gain entry for their preferred college courses.

Independence

• We aim develop our pupils understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them and make more informed decisions about their world as adults.
• Students are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

KS1:

The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time and noticing patterns in the changing seasons. Students will begin to group and classifying things such as common plants whilst they gain an understanding of natural world around them. Students gain an understanding of their own body and how they are able to sense changes in their environment. Students at KS1 are introduced to subject specific terminology in the form of ‘keywords’. Students are encouraged to explain their understanding of the subjects using their key vocabulary.

KS2:

The principal focus of science teaching in stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena such as how plants grow, light and sound, electricity, importance of fossils and reproduction. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions based on evidence they have collected and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

KS3:

Year 7

Our students start Key Stage 3 with practical experience of Science. We focus our first lessons on laboratory skills and the scientific method of thinking. We then look at the elements and the Periodic Table and build our students knowledge from atoms to molecules and patterns of chemical reactions. In chemistry students will begin to understand how particles behave during a change of state and a chemical reaction. In biology students will deepen their understanding of how their own body works looking at the human circulatory system and the function of the heart. Students will also have the opportunity to explore forces through practical activity.

Years 8 and 9

During year 8 and 9 students work in line with the National curriculum for science, students explore all three disciplines of science, lessons are kept practical where possible to drive a passion  for the subject. The National Curriculum based topics are delivered using workplace scenarios wherever possible. This allows our students to see, first-hand, how Science is used to solve problems, find solutions, and pose questions. Our scheme of work aims to show the importance of Science in the workplace. Students begin to apply their understanding of fundamental scientific concepts to everyday scenarios e.g. levers and pulleys in physics, diet and health in biology and hazardous substances in chemistry. During year 8 and 9 some students will begin to work towards an AQA Entry level science qualification. This is a broad hands-on qualification covering Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Students are assessed on their laboratory work with three assessed practical projects followed by three short written tests

KS4:

Years 10 and 11

Students in year 10 and 11 will work towards an OCR GCSE Physics qualification. This course takes an academic look at the world of Physics and perfectly complements the teaching of other GCSE subjects at Maplefields. It prepares our students for several careers such as in Electronics, Building and Construction, Radio and Satellite Communication and Motor Vehicle to name a few. The course also looks at the impact of Science on the Environment allowing our students to have a greater understanding of the UK’s place in the Green Revolution.

In order to maintain a breadth of study throughout year 10 and 11 students will have a ‘science for life’ lesson during the first week of each term. This programme explores chemistry and biology which they can relate to every day life. For example, reproduction and fire safety.

Main Textbook: OCR Gateway GCSE Physics, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-835983-8