Science

Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 follow the National Curriculum based upon the AQA KS3 scheme of work. Students are encouraged to develop scientific skills to gain an understanding of science through inquisition and discovery. This is further encouraged during March, each year, when students take part in British Science Week themed lessons and activities; with the aim of inspiring and celebrating all the sciences and their importance in our everyday lives. Regular assessment is completed throughout the year using termly assessment which contains a variety of questions to assess different skills.  These are used to monitor the progress students make and allow for targeted intervention where appropriate.

Students in Year 10 begin studying the AQA GCSE Combined Science ‘Synergy’ scheme of work. This provides students with a broad approach to science helping them to make links between the different branches of the subject. The progress of students is assessed throughout the year with topic tests and two whole year assessments.  Those students who have shown sufficient aptitude for science follow the AQA Separate Sciences curriculum, allowing them to obtain an individual GCSE in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Students continue to study either Combined Science or Separate Sciences throughout Year 10 and Year 11.  

A brief overview of the topics covered by the faculty

Science

Year 7

Year 8

Year 9

Space

Forces & Energy

Matter

Cells

Chemical Reactions

Energy Resources

Ecosystems

Plant Reproduction

Animal Reproduction

Sound

Health

Respiration

The Periodic Table

Chemical Reactions

Photosynthesis

Light

Energy Changes

Electricity

Field Lines

The Earth

The Human Body

Cells

Forces

Matter

Reactions

 

 

Scientific skills in Years 7 and 8

Scientific attitudes

  • Pupils are taught to pay attention to objectivity and concern for accuracy, precision, repeatability and reproducibility
  • Understand that scientific methods and theories develop as earlier explanations are modified to take account of new evidence and ideas, together with the importance of publishing results and peer review
  • Evaluate risks

 Experimental skills and investigations

  • Students are encouraged to ask questions and develop a line of enquiry based on observations of the real world, alongside prior knowledge and experience
  • Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding
  • Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiries to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables
  • Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
  • Make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements
  • Apply sampling techniques

Analysis and evaluation

  • Apply mathematical concepts and calculate results
  • Present observations and data using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs
  • Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations, measurements and data to draw conclusions
  • Present reasoned explanations, including explaining data in relation to predictions and hypotheses
  • Evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of random and systematic error
  • Identify further questions arising from their results

Measurement

  • Understand and use SI units and IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) chemical nomenclature
  • Use and derive simple equations and carry out appropriate calculations
  • Undertake basic data analysis including simple statistical techniques

Scientific knowledge and skills in Year 9

The principal focus of science teaching in Year 9 is to develop a deeper understanding of a range of scientific ideas in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils should begin to see the connections between these subject areas and become aware of some of the big ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding. Examples of these big ideas are the links between structure and function in living organisms, the particulate model as the key to understanding the properties and interactions of matter in all its forms, and the resources and means of transfer of energy as key determinants of all of these interactions. Students are also encouraged to relate scientific explanations to phenomena in the world around them and start to use modelling and abstract ideas to develop and evaluate explanations.

Scientific attitudes

  • Pupils are taught to pay attention to objectivity and concern for accuracy, precision, repeatability and reproducibility
  • Understand that scientific methods and theories develop as earlier explanations are modified to take account of new evidence and ideas, together with the importance of publishing results and peer review
  • Evaluate risks

Experimental skills and investigations

  • Students are encouraged to ask questions and develop a line of enquiry based on observations of the real world, alongside prior knowledge and experience
  • Make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding
  • Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiries to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables
  • Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
  • Make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements
  • Apply sampling techniques

Analysis and evaluation

  • Apply mathematical concepts and calculate results
  • Present observations and data using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs
  • Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations, measurements and data to draw conclusions
  • Present reasoned explanations, including explaining data in relation to predictions and hypotheses
  • Evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of random and systematic error
  • Identify further questions arising from their results

Measurement

  • Understand and use SI units and IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) chemical nomenclature
  • Use and derive simple equations and carry out appropriate calculations
  • Undertake basic data analysis including simple statistical techniques

Scientific knowledge and skills in Years 10 and 11

Courses currently offered by the faculty

Combined ‘Synergy’ Science

AQA GCSE COMBINED SCIENCE: SYNERGY (8465)

Combined science is divided into two sections.  Each section is delivered by a different teacher. Both sections include topics that draw together and apply key concepts. Examples in Life and environmental sciences include Radiation and risk and The Earth’s atmosphere. In these topics, earlier work on atomic structure, waves and electromagnetic radiation is used to explain the effects of different types of radiation on human tissues and on the climate. An example in Physical sciences is Resources of materials and energy, which introduces life cycle assessment as a way of evaluating the impacts of using materials and energy to manufacture useful products.

Course structure

Life Sciences

  1.  Building blocks
    • States of matter
    • Atomic structure
    • Cells in animals and plants
    • Waves
  2.  Transport over larger distances
    •  Systems in the human body
    •  Plants and photosynthesis
  3.  Interaction with the environment
    • Lifestyle and health
    • Radiation and risk
    • Preventing, treating and curing diseases
  4.   Explaining change
    • The Earth’s atmosphere
    • Ecosystems and biodiversity
    • Inheritance, variation, and evolution. 

 

Required practical

  • Measuring the density of a solid object and of a liquid
  • Measuring specific heat capacity 
  • Looking at cells 
  • Investigating osmosis in plant 
  • Measuring the speed of ripples and investigating waves on a stretched string
  • Testing absorption and emission of infrared radiation by different surfaces
  • Food tests
  • Measuring reaction times
  • Chromatography and finding Rf values
  • Light intensity and rate of photosynthesis
  • Analysis and purification of water samples
  • Measuring population size and using sampling techniques to investigate the effect of a factor on distribution of a species

 

The content in life sciences will be assessed in Paper 1 and 2 of the exams at the end of year 11

Physical Sciences

  1.  Building blocks
    • The periodic table
    • Chemical quantities
  2.   Interactions over small and large distances
    • Forces and energy changes
    • Structure and bonding
    • Magnetism and electromagnetism
  3.   Movement and interaction
    • Forces and motion
    • Electricity
    • Acids and alkalis
    • The rate and extent of chemical change
    • Atoms and ion
  4.  Guiding spaceship Earth towards a sustainable future
    • Carbon chemistry
    • Resources of materials and energy

 

Required practical

  • Stretch tests
  • Investigating forces and acceleration
  • Investigating different components
  • How does the resistance of a wire depend on its length?
  • Testing resistors in series and parallel
  • Making a copper salt
  • Making a salt from a metal carbonate
  • Investigating temperature changes
  • Concentration and rate of reaction
  • The effect of pH on the rate of reaction of amylase
  • Investigating the electrolysis of a solution

 

 

 

The content in physical sciences will be assessed in Paper 3 and 4 of the exams at the end of year 11

Exam board specification link

 

Separate sciences

AQA GCSE BIOLOGY (8461)

The GCSE specification in biology enables students to: 

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of biology 

• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of biology through different types of scientific enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them • develop and learn to apply observational, practical, modelling, enquiry and problem-solving skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other learning environments 

• develop their ability to evaluate claims based on biology through critical analysis of the methodology, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Course structure

Content to be examined in paper 1

  • Cell biology
  • Photosynthesis
  • Moving and changing materials
  • Health matters

 

Content to be examined in paper 1 although some of this content may appear in paper 2

Content to be examined in paper 2

  • Coordination and control
  • Genetics
  • Variation and evolution
  • Ecology in action

 

Content to be examined in paper 2 although some of this content may appear in paper 1

Exam board specification link

AQA GCSE CHEMISTRY (8462)

The GCSE specification in chemistry enables students to: 

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through chemistry 

• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of scientific enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them • develop and learn to apply observational, practical, modelling, enquiry and problem-solving skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other learning environments 

• develop their ability to evaluate claims based on chemistry through critical analysis of the methodology, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Course structure

Content to be examined in paper 1

  • Atomic structure and the periodic table
  • Structure, bonding and the properties of matter
  • Chemical quantities and calculations
  • Chemical changes
  • Energy changes

 

Content to be examined in paper 1 although some of this content may appear in paper 2

Content to be examined in paper 2

  • The rate and extent of chemical change
  • Hydrocarbons
  • Chemical analysis
  • The atmosphere
  • Sustainable development

 

Content to be examined in paper 2 although some of this content may appear in paper 1

Exam board specification link

AQA GCSE PHYSICS (8463)

GCSE specifications in Physics should enable students to: 

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of physics 

• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of physics 

• develop and learn to apply observational, practical, modelling, enquiry and problem-solving skills, both in the laboratory, in the field and in other learning environments 

• develop their ability to evaluate claims based on physics through critical analysis of the methodology, evidence and conclusions, both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Course structure

Content to be examined in paper 1

  • Energy
  • Electricity
  • Particle model of matter
  • Atomic structure

 

Content to be examined in paper 1 although some of this content may appear in paper 2

Content to be examined in paper 2

  • Forces
  • Waves
  • Electromagnetism
  • Space

 

Content to be examined in paper 2 although some of this content may appear in paper 1

Exam board specification link

 

Science Staff

Mrs R Spencer-Woodcock

Faculty Leader of Science

rspencer-woodcock@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mr G Massey

Assistant Faculty Leader of Science

gmassey@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mr M Whitehead

Assistant Faculty Leader of Science

mwhitehead@avonvalleyschool.uk

Miss E Anderson-Howe

Teacher of Science

eanderson-howe@avonvalleyschool.uk

Miss N Considine

Teacher of Science

nconsidine@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mrs S Davis

Teacher of Science

sdavis@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mr I Goldthorp

Teacher of Science

igoldthorp@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mrs A Khan

Teacher of Science

akhan@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mr A Mushing

Teacher of Science

amushing@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mrs L Sced

Teacher of Science

lsced@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mrs K Cockerill

Senior Science Technician

kcockerill@avonvalleyschool.uk

Mr K Hallam

Science Technician

khallam@avonvalleyschool.uk