Science -  Curriculum Intent

Welcome to the Science department. We are caring and enthusiastic scientists who are passionate about science and science careers. We wish to instil a love of learning and science in our students. Our primary goal is to do everything that we can to enable our students to reach their potential. Our students’ learning, their capacity for progress and discovery and their future as good, contributing citizens that are forces for advancement, tolerance and respect remain at the heart of all of our endeavours. We teach a five year curriculum of science so that students have a Key Stage 3 experience in years seven and eight learning the foundations of science. In year nine, there is a transition to GCSEs. Crossover topics that link Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 are taught at this point. In years ten and eleven, the Key Stage 4 content is taught. Our examination board is AQA. For those doing two GCSE awards, we follow the Combined Trilogy route. We also offer three GCSE awards for the separate sciences. The extra content is taught in years ten and eleven with extra lessons provided to facilitate the extended curriculum. We offer trips to the Big Bang Fair, engagement lessons during science week, work with local universities to provided engagement activities such as the University of Surrey STEAM fair, Berkshire More Able STEM competitions, University of Surrey Vets outreach, etc. Engagement in science is crucial and we always include contexts that enable students to see science in their lives and future careers. Our aim over the next couple of years is to hone and refine our resources to enable even greater progress, work with students for more science voice and representation and to develop our teachers to be even more effective. We are lucky to be part of a very supportive trust (Anthem Trust) and this allows our student to participate in leadership activities and allows our science departments to work together to continuously improve and refine our provision. In Science our aim is to:

• Inspire curiosity about how the world works and explanations for observed phenomena
• Develop problem-solving and analytical skills, including the analysis of data
• Understand how the body and environment works
• Understand how compounds, elements and reactions affect the production and characteristics of everyday substances and materials
• Understand how the principles of forces, energy, waves and electricity link to their use of machines and devices and their observation of the world around them
• Develop practical skills in science and be able to make risk assessments
• Develop discerning skills to evaluate the credibility and validity of research and practical work
• Inspire students take STEM related studies post GCSE and consider STEM careers