Science

Science Intent Statement

Our Science curriculum strives to give all students the ability and desire to critically engage in the world.  

We want our students to experience joy in understanding the wonders of the natural world around them. Throughout our curriculum, students explore topics underpinned by the core scientific concepts of cells, particles, energy and forces. This powerful knowledge enables students to make sense of the physical world and understand the role they play in building a sustainable future.  

We know that our world is facing many imminent challenges, from climate change to an aging population, and we believe that science offers solutions.  We are ambitious for our students; we want them to see themselves as future scientists equipped to take on these global issues. Our curriculum weaves stories from the past, of marginalised scientists and unexpected discoveries, with current solutions to global warming and renewable energy. Our curriculum gives all students a strong foundation to continue their scientific education.

Alongside subject knowledge we teach disciplinary knowledge; how ideas are developed and tested to provide robust evidence. Whilst developing future scientists we also want to build questioning minds. We teach our students to seek reliable information and evidence in the noise of information presented to them, particularly from social media and AI.

Taught thematically at KS3, we seek to give students a grounding in our core principles, to find joy in exciting and engaging demonstrations and to build their working scientifically knowledge and skills through purposeful practical work.

At KS4, our students study the sciences as separate subjects. This enables students to gain a deeper appreciation of the unique challenges and specialised skills inherent to each scientific field.

Biology

Our Biology curriculum is underpinned by understanding key processes in living things; respiration, photosynthesis,enzyme action and response to pathogens. Students must understand the mechanisms of these processes to be confident in applying the ideas to new contexts, including the impact on them as an organism. Our curriculum develops students' scientific literacy with data tables and graphs, allowing them to read these graphical forms of information and understand what they are showing.  When using information, students are taught to consider the source and reliability of the data to make judgements on the confidence they can have in the evidence and conclusions.

Chemistry

Our Chemistry curriculum builds strong foundational knowledge of the nature of substances and their reactions; how atoms interact, how the structure of substances is linked to their properties and how the properties of materials are linked to their application.   Our curriculum builds scientific literacy through explicitly recognising the many ways information can be represented in chemistry.  Words, symbols, dot and cross diagrams and displayed formulae are used throughout the curriculum and students build confidence in describing reactions through word, symbol, ionic and half equations. 

Students are taught how to read these chemistry conventions and the information they provide about the bonding and structure of substances. We believe practical experience is essential and our curriculum provides opportunities for students to both develop their dexterity in handling laboratory equipment and to apply disciplinary knowledge to investigations.  The curriculum is contextualised through emphasising the role of chemistry in everyday life and industry, as well as encouraging students to see the role chemistry can play in providing a sustainable future.

Physics

Our physics curriculum aims to prepare students to engage knowledgeably with the increasingly technological world.  Our curriculum develops students’ understanding of the fundamental Physics concepts of matter, energy, forces and fields and how they interrelate. We aim to enable students to apply these to explain natural phenomena and to the devices and systems that humans have created.  Students are supported to use mathematics meaningfully in physics, interpreting equations in terms of physical relationships and real-world contexts rather than simply carrying out numerical substitution.

Students will understand that physicists frequently use models to explain complex phenomena and that while these models can be useful they can have weaknesses and are being continually improved over time e.g. the model of energy stores.  The curriculum also places strong emphasis on scientific literacy and communication. Students are taught to use precise scientific terminology, construct clear written explanations, interpret and produce graphs and diagrams and apply appropriate units and symbols.