SCIENCE CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

Plantsbrook Science Department aims to develop students who are curious about the world around them and question what they experience and see. Our curriculum develops students’ scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of all areas of the national curriculum whilst equipping students with the practical and mathematical skills required to be successful at GCSE and beyond. It further aims to develop communication and social skills by encouraging co-operative learning and discussion and physical skills through active enquiry. The curriculum promotes a range of scientific role models, both past and present, to encourage high aspirations of what can be achieved. 

In Key Stage 3, students develop their scientific knowledge and skills, becoming more enquiring, critical and independent learners. Whilst following a rolling programme, learning becomes more individualised as students transition from the Plantsbrook schemes of work towards the relevant accredited exam specifications in KS4. 

In KS4, students build upon the knowledge and skills gained and apply them to areas within Biology, Chemistry and Physics. We follow the AQA GCSE science (9-1) curriculum and have developed our own enriched scheme of work. This allows us to study ideas further and ensure that pupils can revisit key ideas and embed them fully in their long-term memory. In this way pupils gain a deeper knowledge as opposed to one in which they have only some knowledge of the facts required and are not able to effectively apply it using their scientific skills. Practical work is embedded in science lessons effectively so that pupils develop these important skills.

At KS5, pupils can study A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, which deepen their understanding of each subject discipline, preparing pupils for further education or apprenticeships. Students who favour a more applied approach to Science can choose to study the extended certificate in applied Science.