Curriculum Implementation

Science structures the curriculum into a 3-year Key Stage 3, a 2 year KS4 and a 2 year KS5 curriculum. The curriculum is a progressive model. Subject and cross subject sequencing intends to develop schemata making subsequent learning possible.

Subject specialists have given consideration and thought to the sequence and rationale of the curriculum; why we teach the content we do and in the order that we do. This is to ensure knowledge is not isolated information; it is connected knowledge that enables comprehension.

At Key Stage 3, the full National Curriculum is delivered. The Science curriculum is organised into topics. Each topic builds on prior knowledge allowing connections to be made and enables knowledge to be transferable. In Science we believe this facilitates deeper comprehension. The topic content taught is chosen so lessons focus on developing deeper understanding and capacity for skilful performance.

At Key Stage 4, the full AQA Combined Science and separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics specifications are delivered. Content is structured into topics. The curriculum is designed to ensure students can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• scientific ideas
• techniques and procedures,
• apply their knowledge and understanding of these scientific principles and analyse information and ideas to interpret and evaluate

• make judgments
• draw conclusions,
• develop and improve experimental procedures. Each lesson builds on prior learning,
• allowing connections to be made between content Units have been organised and designed to promote learning and provide depth and breadth of understanding

At Key Stage 5 the AQA A-Level Specification is delivered for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. In addition, Edexcel. The curriculum is designed to ensure students can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• scientific ideas
• techniques and procedures
• apply their knowledge and understanding of these scientific principles and analyse information and ideas to interpret and evaluate
• make judgments, draw conclusions, develop and improve experimental procedures.

Each lesson builds on prior learning, allowing connections to be made between content. Units have been organised and designed to promote learning and provide depth and breadth of understanding

Student voice has been conducted to ensure that students have a contribution to the curriculum content. This has resulted in a greater number of practical and visual demonstrations to aid understanding being introduced.

The Science Faculty is a member of the Association for Science Education, Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Biology and works alongside the School Improvement Partners to quality assure our curriculum and ensure that it provides a high quality and comprehensive curriculum for all.

Pedagogical approach

The pedagogical approach for Science adheres to the LLT Teaching and Learning Policy. Subject specialists deliver the Science curriculum through50,55-minute lessons per fortnight

Rosenshine and ‘Teach Like a Champion’ strategies are implemented in all lessons and lesson episodes are designed to enable students to store knowledge into the long-term memory.

Lessons

Tasks and activities are engaging and whenever possible are linked to local context, careers and progression and develop cultural capital. Examples include development and history of scientific principles and inventions, discussions of potential careers such as doctors or electrical engineers and highlight the essential knowledge crossover between school learning and job roles.

Lessons are structured to enable students to review/retrieve prior knowledge and activate it to make connections with new learning. This is through ‘Do It Now’ tasks at the start of each lesson

In each lesson, students are informed what they are learning and what the outcomes for the lesson are. We call these ‘WALT’ (What we are all learning today,) and ‘WILF’ (What I’m Looking For.)

New information is delivered in small steps and models are provided to support student comprehension. In science, we utilise turn and talk, I do, we do, you do, worked examples and demonstrations to develop students’ essential knowledge in to independent and successful young adults.

Lessons provide opportunities for students to practice applying their new learning. This may include guided and/or independent practice.

Questioning is used to inform adaptive teaching, and this includes techniques such as ‘right is right’ to ensure students accurately and clearly articulate their responses.

Students are asked to complete practical based activities such a sscience investigations into multiple scientific phenomena, to develop scientific literacy and further develop the connections between substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

Students develop essential knowledge and then apply it in activities that ‘bring it all together.’ This ensures they connect knowledge and learning.

We assess an ever expanding curriculum. Assessment takes place in the form of formative and summative assessment tasks. These are carefully considered and link directly to the curriculum intent for the half term. Summative assessment samples from the whole curriculum – not just what has been taught most recently.

Clear ‘essential knowledge reading’ activities are provided to support reading development and provide depth and breadth to the curriculum. Examples in science include wider reading activities to broaden and deepen essential knowledge, as well as consolidating the learning provided within each topic. There are regularly reading activities within lessons that allow students to comprehend specific scientific terminology.

Literacy

In Science teachers:

Clearly communicate their subject discipline using appropriate vocabulary. This includes the use of command words, vocabulary lists, Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary.

Science reading materials are carefully selected to develop reading and comprehension skills. The Science department teach reading comprehension strategies through disciplinary reading strategies such as reciprocal reading, reading lists, going for goals with REAL, explicit vocabulary instruction, DARTS and modelling. We provide support for students so they can access challenging texts such as Frayer models, using glossaries and explicit vocabulary instruction.

In Science we provide opportunities for students to ‘bring together’ knowledge developed. This is through extended writing tasks, practical demonstrations or other data analysis and evaluation tasks.

To develop oracy the Science department uses physical and linguistic strands as well as cognitive structure to assist in students' ability to communicate ideas and concepts verbally.

In science, we run a number of extra-curricular activities to broaden the scope of the science curriculum. These include events such as a weekly STEM club, weekly ecology club, Science Fair Project, scientific journal club and trips to Chester zoo, physics Olympics and Big Bang science fair.