Science

What is our overarching curriculum intent and what do we intend students leave Bridgemary School with?

We intend that our curriculum supports our Trust ambition of ‘achieving more together’.  We do this by providing students with a deep understanding of the scientific knowledge and ideas that impact them as individuals within a local and globalised context. As they journey through our curriculum, our students are increasingly made to develop their curiosity, provide insight into working scientifically and develop an appreciation for the value of science in their everyday lives. It delivers a framework for understanding the natural world and promotes an awareness for the interaction between science, technology and the environment.

What is the structural intent of the subject curriculum, & how is it sequenced so that students know and remember more?

The curriculum across all subjects is carefully sequenced so that prior core declarative and procedural knowledge is built upon, with continual opportunities for core knowledge to be interleaved throughout both key stages so that students know more, remember more and can apply that knowledge in a range of contexts.  Facilitating knowledge adds important local, national, and global context to core knowledge, and our curriculum intends to provide a richness and diversity that enables our students to experience learning in real life contexts.

How do any school values and focuses influence or feed through the curriculum?

The school curriculum is built on 4 aims to ensure our students receive and are able to access it fully, those being:

• Reading and comprehension that aims to ensure all students leave with a reading age at least equivalent to their chronological age
• Our school ethos of Be Kind, Work Hard, Be the Best Version of Yourself
• A deepening understanding of core and facilitating knowledge that enables students to know and remember more
• A wide appreciation of the world that we live in, and the celebration of the diversity this brings

In Science we support these aims by providing a variety of enrichment to promote the love of science. Students develop an understanding and use of scientific language and commonalities in language between other curriculum areas. We encourage our students to become eco-conscious using the curriculum as a mechanism to enhance awareness of local and global issues. They develop new skills through a variety of interesting contexts to ensure engagement and improve their social and moral understanding of the world and be able to form reasoned opinions around historical and future scientific developments and achievements. Our curriculum is built around core knowledge and our lessons develop retrieval of information overtime and enable the students to link this content to the world around them. By studying science our students develop an in-depth understanding of how major scientific ideas have played a vital role in society preparing them for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world.

What is our intent to assess how well students access the curriculum and how the school intends to adapt the curriculum to close gaps in knowledge?

To ensure any gaps in prior or new knowledge are quickly identified, we check progress frequently through a range of assessment opportunities, from lesson-by-lesson declarative knowledge tests, end of topic tests that assess knowledge retention and application, to more cumulative common assessments that assess students’ ability to remember and apply knowledge in a range of contexts.  The information from these assessments are used to adapt the curriculums intending to quickly close gaps in knowledge and keep students on track to achieve at our ambitious academic flightpaths.

The curriculum we intend to deliver to students at each Key Stage:

At KS3 we deliver a curriculum that begins their journey by developing an understanding of the safety and practical aspects of science. They then progress through the curriculum learning about the structure and function in living organisms from cell structure, the body systems and processes, the hierarchical organisation of multicellular organisms to how they have evolved and the interdependence of organisms. They also learn how the particle model is the key to understanding the properties and interactions of matter in all forms by learning about atoms, elements, various separation techniques and the different chemical reactions. They also learn about the resources and means of transfer of energy in terms of energy stores, forces and their interactions, electrical circuits and particle models of matter which are key determinants of all these interactions.

At KS4 we continue to develop their scientific skills throughout the topics showing how scientific ideas have developed historically and looking at the more modern developments. They will cover in greater detail how living organisms interact with each other and the environment. We do so by covering a deeper view into cell processes, the different health issues and the effects of microorganisms on the human body and the different biological structures and the functions of an organism. We also look at selective breeding and the effects on variation, genetic engineering and the advancements this has accomplished, the social, ethical and economic concerns of scientific developments and the effects of human interactions with the environment. We will also develop a greater understanding of the composition, structure, properties and reactions of matter, atoms, atomic particles and the way they are arranged and link together. We do this through looking further into the periodic table and atom arrangement, the properties of materials used in everyday life, extraction techniques and factors that affect reactions and the use of resources and their lifecycle. Finally, we will further develop their understanding of the fundamental concepts of field, force, radiation and particle structure by looking deeper into waves and their behaviour, forces and Newton’s laws, the development of the atom and their radioactive properties, the efficiency and behaviour of electricity and energy and the applications of the electromagnetic spectrum.

How does the co-curriculum enhance the curriculum?

During their time studying science our students are given numerous opportunities to expand their co-curriculum knowledge as well as being able to experience cultural capital development opportunities. These include personal, social, physical, spiritual, moral and cultural aspects throughout numerous areas within our subject. These include: Communication of Science ideas and concepts, practical techniques, health and safety, development of fine motor and dexterity skills, personal hygiene and preventing spread of diseases, the history of hygiene and spread of disease, environmental impacts of fossils fuels and problems of renewables, healthy lifestyles, causes of global warming and the effects of different countries on global emissions, drug and alcohol use, braking and stopping distances and how alcohol can affect reaction times.

Vaccination and MMR/ Thalidomide controversy, natural selection and the conflict with religion, Menstrual cycle and hormones, IVF debate, Heart rate, reflexes and diabetes, the effects of ionising radiation, lifecycle assessments and use of Earth’s resources, genetic engineering, and the use of fertilisers and ecological impact.