St Joseph's RC High School
St Joseph's RC High School is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
and young people and, expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment
“5 year curriculum”
Students follow a 5 year, spiral curriculum and topics are interleaved to enable students to continually build their knowledge and skill5s.
In Year 7 and 8, students have 5 hours of Science per fortnight. Studies are aligned to the National Curriculum for Science 2014, and is underpinned by AQAs Big Ideas in Science. Our scheme of learning aims to stimulate students’ curiosity in the world around them and enable to develop investigative and evaluative skills in preparation for GCSE.
The topics covered are outlined below. Each unit of work is built around the development of a particular investigative skill alongside the improvement in knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts.
Year 7:
Year 8:
Homework will be set once or twice per week
In year 9-11, the number of sessions is increased to 10 per fortnight. Science is one of the core subjects of the National Curriculum and therefore it is compulsory in Years 9, 10 and 11. We study science from the AQA suite of GCSE qualifications. Students will either follow the programme of study towards:
A small number of students each some year groups will work towards an Entry Level Certificate in Science prior to beginning their formal GCSE studies, to ensure they are well-equipped with the skills needed to succeed.
An overview of the topics in the GCSE courses is shown below:
Biology 1. Cell biology 2. Organisation 3. Infection and response 4. Bioenergetics 5. Homeostasis and response 6. Inheritance, variation and evolution 7. Ecology
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Chemistry 8. Atomic structure and the periodic table 9. Bonding, structure, and the properties of matter 10. Quantitative chemistry 11. Chemical changes 12. Energy changes 13. The rate and extent of chemical change 14. Organic chemistry 15. Chemical analysis 16. Chemistry of the atmosphere 17. Using resources
| Physics 18. Energy 19. Electricity 20. Particle model of matter 21. Atomic structure 22. Forces 23. Waves 24. Magnetism and electromagnetism Students that are sitting GCSE Physics will also study 25. Space
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There are 6 papers sat at the end of the course in Y11 – 2 Biology, 2 Chemistry and 2 Physics papers; the length of the paper varies, dependent on the specification being followed. The student will sit either Foundation or Higher tier papers.
15% of the marks available on the papers are related to Required Practical Activities, so there is an emphasis placed on experiments and investigative skills throughout the course.
Lessons feature regular opportunities to develop and practise exam technique to prepare to independently answer the more challenging AO2 Application and AO3 Evaluation questions.
Links to specifications:
GSCE Combined Science – Trilogy https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/science/specifications/AQA-8464-SP-2016.PDF
GCSE Biology https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/biology/specifications/AQA-8461-SP-2016.PDF
GCSE Chemistry https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/chemistry/specifications/AQA-8462-SP-2016.PDF
GCSE Physics https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/physics/specifications/AQA-8463-SP-2016.PDF
Career Possibilities….
Your (options with Science) are unlimited
Using science as a grounding to follow a career, options are numerous and involve both research and hands-on roles. For instance….
Health & Medicine, teaching, research, forensics, psychology, sports science, conservation, pharmacology, veterinary surgeon, design, biotechnology, dentistry, agriculture geology, archaeology, astronomy, energy supply and technology engineering (computer, aerospace, electronic, communications).