In our Science curriculum we believe we are able to foster the talents and ambitions of all our young people through a knowledge based curriculum. We have faith in our actions and trust our judgement as we are safe in the knowledge our curriculum is broad, challenging and will holistically develop our students. Our curriculum is always rooted in Christian teachings: Psalm 119:66 “Teach me knowledge and good judgement for I trust your commands “
Our Science Curriculum is designed to ignite enthusiasm for Science and equip students with knowledge and skills that ensure they can make informed life choices and access opportunity.
Our Science Curriculum has been written with the intention of stimulating students’ natural curiosity while developing substansive scientific and disciplinary knowledge at appropriate points in students’ journey through Science. Topics are cycled allowing for the progressive development of students’ knowledge and skills; foundations are laid and built on sequentially with increasing cognitive load. We have used opportunities to interleave to ensure consolidation and retrieval are inherent within our delivery model. In the development of schemes we have explicitly linked cultural capital to address gaps in our students knowledge of their world and develop the aspirations of our students.
As part of The Challenge Academy Trust we have used our network to seek guidance from the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry and STEM learning in appropriately sequencing content.
Year 7 and 8: Foundation – This has been written to develop students’ awareness of phenomena around them engaging them with the nature of Science as discipline and to provide them with a broad understanding of key scientific ideas.
Year 9: Fundamental’s – We have used Year 9 to focus key topics and specific pockets of knowledge that will underpin future learning. It will develop their knowledge and understanding while providing them opportunities to apply understanding to new contexts developing their ability to make links.
Year 10 and 11: Deepening understanding- We have selected the content that is the most abstract and difficult to apply. Students will have developed a resilience and a broader knowledge and skill base that equips them to access and apply these more challenging ideas.