Telephone : 01227 931300 Email : Office

“This is one of the most important lessons of the scientific method: if you cannot fail, you cannot learn.” Eric Ries

Assessment objectives in science are skills that cross over all of the different topics that students’ are taught in science. They detail the main skills that each student needs to portray in order to succeed in each topic.

Assessment Objective 1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Scientific ideas
• Scientific techniques and procedures

Assessment Objective 2: Apply knowledge and understanding of:

• Scientific ideas
• Scientific enquiry, techniques and procedures

Assessment Objective 3: Analyse information and ideas to:

• Interpret and evaluate
• Make judgements and draw conclusions
• Develop and improve experimental procedures

Each assessment objective transcends any specific year group and forms 3 significant skills the students’ need to demonstrate in class and assessments to succeed in making outstanding progress.

Each topic test is reflectively reviewed and students use information on the assessment objectives to identify weak areas of knowledge and assessment objective skills.

Students can visit our website (students will need to login with their @swale.at school account in google) to look at revision, recap and application resources in one concise place:

https://sites.google.com/swale.at/tws-science

Director: Mr C Donovan-Bayley chris.donovanbayley@swale.at

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Key Stage 3 Science

KS3 in science comprises Years 7 and 8. Pupils experience an introduction to the key concepts of biology, chemistry and physics as well as an introduction to practical work, analysis and scientific thinking.

Each topic is set out to improve recall of key terminology and knowledge, whilst enthusing science curiosity.

Lessons are designed to have a focus on the big questions involved in the chapter and includes an extended writing lesson to use knowledge from the chapter to try and answer the big question.

Each test is set out as follows:

• Section A - Recall of knowledge learnt over the chapter.
• Section B - Recall of knowledge previous taught over previous chapters. Section B will become easier as knowledge is constantly being recalled over future topics to build recall ability in the students.

Areas studied in Year 7:

Term 1	Induction and completion of the Bunsen Burner license	Cell level systems: Microscopy Animal cells Plant Cells Bacterial cells Photosynthesis Respiration
Term 2	Particles: Particle Model Physical changes- Changes of state Chemical changes Structure of the atom- charges and mass Development of the theory of the atom	Matter: The particle model Density Gas pressure Energy and temperature
Term 3	Scaling up Cell specialisation Diffusion Osmosis Gaseous exchange Circulatory system Heart Plant transport system	Elements, compounds and mixtures Periodic table structure Development of the periodic table Properties of metals and non metals Compounds and mixtures polymers Filtration and crystallisation Distillation Chromatography
Term 4	Forces Speed calculation Vectors and scalars Distance-time graphs Free body diagrams Newton’s 1st law Newton’s 2nd law Newton’s 3rd law Hookes law	Organism level systems Basic nervous system Reflexes - arc Enzymes Hormones Homeostasis Reproduction systems- structure Menstrual cycle
Term 5	Chemical reactions Formulae Conservation of mass Chemical equations Detecting gases- gas tests Exothermic and endothermic reactions- reaction profiles higher pH Scale Neutralisation	Electricity and magnetism Static charges Types of circuit Current PD Resistance Magnets- induced versus permanent Magnetic field
Term 6	End of year test based on all taught knowledge from the year.	Space: Solar System Star formation Universe Atmosphere Rocketry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Areas studied in Year 8:

Term 1	Community level systems Ecosystems Pyramids of biomass/numbers Competition Interdependence The carbon cycle The water cycle The nitrogen cycle	Predicting and identifying reactions and products Group 1 Group 7 Group 0 Reactivity series Displacement reactions
Term 2	Waves and radioactivity Types of wave- mechanical, electromagnetic Properties of wave- travel through Wave equation EMS Uses and dangers of EMS	Interaction between systems Continuous variation Discontinuous variation Natural selection Evolution and adaptation Classification systems- artificial versus natural
Term 3	Monitoring and controlling chemical reactions Rates of reaction- temperature Surface area reactions Concentration reactions Reversible reactions
Term 4	Energy Energy stores and transfers Conservation of energy Gravitational potential energy Efficiency Insulation	Global challenges- Biology Sampling techniques- pooter, catch and release Sampling techniques- using quadrats, belt transects Biodiversity Selective breeding Genetically modified organisms Spread of disease and prevention Body defence systems Vaccinations
Term 5	Global challenges- Chemistry Extraction of metals Recycling Fractional distillation of crude oil Formation of the atmosphere Climate change Purification of water	Global challenges- Physics Speed measurement Reaction and thinking time Energy sources Using resources National grid

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” ― Neil deGrasse Tyson

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Key stage 3 / 4-  Year 9 transition to GCSE

Students’ will complete a transition year into OCR gateway GCSE science. Students will student the introduction units from the GCSE course in order to build the foundation of knowledge needed to study the deeper ideas and concepts of the GCSE specification.

The tests are set out as follows:

• Section A- Recall of knowledge learnt over the chapter.
• Section B- Recall of knowledge previous taught over previous chapters. Section B will become easier as knowledge is constantly being recalled over future topics to build recall ability in the students.

The topics which will be taught in year 9 are below.

 

Start date	Year 9
Term 1	Particles Matter
Term 2	Cell level systems Elements, compounds and mixtures.
Term 3	Forces Scaling up
Term 4	Chemical reactions
Term 5	Electricity and magnetism
Term 6	End of year test

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Key Stage 4 Science

"You learn things much more deeply than in lower school, you start to feel like you really understand science."  Emily - Year 11.

Pupils start their GCSEs in years 10 and 11 with all examinations are sat at the end of year 11.

The exam specification studied is OCR Gateway combined science 9-1.

Pupils take Combined Science course are assessed through 100% exams, which includes the understanding of practical skills. Each specialism is separated into 7 units which are studied and assessed with paper 1 exams including units 1, 2, 3 and 7, whilst paper two is based on all knowledge learnt for the specialism i.e units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (main units in bold).

Combined Science is worth two GCSE qualifications and culminates in 6 exams at the end of year 11. There are two biology, two chemistry and two physics examinations. Each exam is worth 60 marks and lasts 1 hour and 10 minutes. All of the exams are equally weighted (16.7% each) and the scores from all six papers is used to determine the final grade awarded.

Information relating to the specific content of the course can be found in the specification links below.

Combined science: CLICK HERE 

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” ― Marie Curie

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Key Stage 5 Science

"You really start to build your practical skills and you can see how what you’re doing in your experiments helps scientists in the real world."  Emma - Year 12.

Course: Btec Forensics Investigation

Learners will cover topics such as:

• Unit 1: Principles and Applications of Science I
• Unit 2: Practical Scientific Procedures and Techniques
• Unit 3: Science Investigation Skills
• Unit 4: Forensic Investigation Procedures in Practice.
• Unit 8: Physiology of human body systems
• Unit 9: Environmental Forensics

Assessment methods:

59% internally assessed content and 41% externally assessed content (total 2.5 hours of exams).

Entry requirements:

Minimum level 5 in Combined Science. Minimum Level 5 in Maths and level 4 in English.

Progression and career opportunities:

This qualification is supported by a range of universities and taken alongside other qualifications it can fulfil the entry requirements for a number of science-related higher education courses, including biomedical, forensic and sports science, as well as nursing and midwifery. In addition, the qualification is eligible for UCAS points.

Link for specification and further course information: CLICK HERE