General Science
KS3 Science
At Key Stage 3 we aim to develop a love of Science and to foster an awareness of the impact of Science on everyday life. The curriculum builds upon knowledge and skills learnt at primary schools and enables students to learn the core scientific concepts and skills that will provide a solid foundation for GCSE. It includes further interesting content, which is not in the GCSE curriculum, to engage students in Science. Young people are surrounded in the media with scientific (and pseudo-scientific) headlines, scientific policy debates are becoming more common, and articles are full of assumed prior scientific knowledge. It is therefore our ambition to ensure that our pupils can engage in these discussions from a position of knowledge, to be able to make informed decisions and contribute to all aspects of our society.
Ultimately, we want to encourage our students to be inquisitive, knowledgeable and ambitious scientists of the future.
Combined Science
The majority of students at Highfields School study Combined Science GCSE. This is a double award qualification – upon completion of the course students will be awarded two GCSEs of either the same grade e.g. 9-9, or a split grade e.g. 9-8. The course covers biology, chemistry and physics. Ideas are introduced within relevant and interesting settings which help learners to anchor their conceptual knowledge of the range of scientific topics required at GCSE level. Practical skills are embedded within the specification. Students carry out practical work in preparation for written examinations that specifically test these skills.
Students will cover the course in years 9, 10 and 11 during their lessons.
All Combined Science students will sit half termly Standard Assessment in years 9, 10 and 11. In December and March of year 11 students will sit mock exams to prepare them for their final GCSE exams.
Students will be set independent learning by each of their science teachers. This may consist of questions to consolidate what had been learnt in lessons, research using the internet, Seneca learning tasks, past paper exam questions or completion of an independent learning booklet.