Science education gives students the opportunity to gain a better knowledge of how and why things function. Science can teach children about the world that surrounds them. The information gained from science can be used to grasp new ideas, make educated choices and pursue the pursuit of a new passion. In school science teaches us how to think analytically, taking information from diverse topics, and learning how to solve problems. Ultimately science can help us to live longer, happier and more productive lives, able to understand current events through a more critical scientific lens.
We believe in the spiral curriculum, continually building on prior knowledge, and extending and challenging ideas. We use a programme of study that fills 5 years at MVC. Students are encouraged to not only think about the content they are studying in the lessons, but also that science knowledge itself is continually changing, growing and adapting. Outside the classroom, students are encouraged to pursue their own science passions, perhaps in growing plants, thinking about the history of science or even unlocking the mysteries of the universe! Although students are encouraged to find answers, we also explore the ideas of the null hypothesis – sometimes being wrong isn’t wrong!
Over the course of their time at MVC, students grow in confidence in science lessons, learning fine motor skills when using equipment, and working effectively with others. Students leave us with a good level of understanding of the world around them and their place in it.
In KS3 Science teaching is divided into 10 units that introduce a broad range of scientific ideas into discrete and distinct concepts or ‘chunks’ that students can easily relate to and to make the learning journey easier to follow with distinct steps. Biology, chemistry and physics are equally represented across the years and the distinction between is made between the disciplines to bridge the transition into GCSE where they will become more pronounced.
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Terms |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
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Autumn |
Across the autumn term the following units: Genes – Variation and Human reproduction Waves – Sound and Light Reactions – Metals and non-metals and Acids and alkalis The units will be spread across the term equally and when is dependent upon whether the class is taught by a single teacher or shared between more than one. Chemistry, physics and biology are always present and taught in each term. |
Each unit will have a Check Point Assessment, which will last about 40 minutes. Students are encouraged to act upon both verbal and written feedback following marking of the test. These tests encourage the students to recall and remember key ideas or skills. Students will complete homeworks that aid that recall. Online access to self-marking testing is carried out periodically through the term. |
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Spring |
The spring term follows the same model the autumn term but has three new units: Ecosystems – Interdependence and Plant reproduction Electromagnets – Voltage and resistance and Current Earth – Earth structure and Universe |
The same assessment model is used. |
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Summer |
The summer term follows the same model, however there is now a focus on rounding off and securing knowledge of all units. Energy – Energy costs and Energy transfer |
The same assessment model is used resulting in all students exposed to 10 small ‘Check Point’ tests. Larger end of year7 exams complete a successful year of learning. |
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Terms |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
|
Autumn |
Across the autumn term the following units: Genes – Evolution and Inheritance Reactions – Chemical energy and Types of reaction Energy – Work and Heating and cooling The units will be spread across the term equally and when is dependent upon whether the class is taught by a single teacher or shared between more than one. Chemistry, physics and biology are always present and taught in each term. |
Each unit will have a Check Point Assessment, which will last about 40 minutes. Students are encouraged to act upon both verbal and written feedback following marking of the test. These tests encourage the students to recall and remember key ideas or skills. Students will complete homeworks that aid that recall. Online access to self-marking testing is carried out periodically through the term. |
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Spring |
The spring term follows the same model the autumn term but has three new units: Ecosystem– Respiration and Photosynthesis Earth – Climate and Earth resources Electromagnets– Magnetism and Electromagnetism |
The same assessment model is used. |
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Summer |
The summer term follows the same model, however there is now a focus on rounding off and securing knowledge of all units. Waves – Wave effects and Wave properties |
The same assessment model is used resulting in all students exposed to 10 small ‘Check Point’ tests. Larger end of year8 exams complete a successful year of learning. |
Science has now fully integrated a new system of resources that are not only used by class teachers during each lesson, but are also available for all students when at home. This not only helps to support all learners but helps to augment class learning and, more importantly, helps those that are off school with illness. Students navigate to https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/portal.aspx ,and click on Student Sign in. Upon entering the school name, students follow the instruction for identifying themselves. A series of online resources are then shown. The left two courses (“books”) are for year7 and year8, the three books on the right are for triple students, studying separate sciences. For those on the Combined Trilogy course, they press the “2” icon at the bottom right of the page, which then has the three courses (“books”) for their use.
Homework will be set accordance to the topics covered, lesson activities and whether the class is shared or taught by a single teacher. We give advanced warning for assessments and direct students towards revision materials or task, with a focus on developing the skills for more independent learning. Students will also have a class login for Seneca Learning that will be used throughout the year to support learning.
Dr. Wilson will be leading a Science Club this year and all are welcome. Every week there will be a range of hands on practical sessions and mini-projects in all three Sciences. The key here is to provide a fun learning environment.
Curiosity is a fantastic thing to foster in young learners and, in the addition to formal support (ie. homework, revision etc.), it is great to develop a strong scientific general knowledge. This can take multiple forms and there is no correct way of doing it, but by introducing young minds to scientific documentaries (Attenborough is always a favourite - iPlayer and other providers have a fantastic selection), attending museums and even through discussing what they are studying can contribute to development.
Online support can be found using the follow websites:
All of the content of the units selected for the Year 7 Science programme have been derived from the AQA Key Stage 3 Syllabus and cross-checked against the UK National Curriculum topic for Key Stage 3. This means that the topic taught can be found across common media and support materials. This includes BBC Bitesize, Seneca Learning, Revision Guides (including popular ones, such as GCP) and wider.
Support Documents can be found at:
In Year 9 students complete their KS3 learning and then, seamlessly, embark upon their GCSE Science programme. To enable this, lessons are broken more overtly into specific lessons in chemistry, physics and biology. We feel this is an important step as students , no matter which science course they undertake, will sit two discrete exams in each of the science disciplines at the end of the course. Students will therefore have three teachers each for one lesson per week. In essence, this year is a bridging year, designed to slowly introduce GCSE content, skills and assessment practices. Students have a single lesson of each subject a week and therefore content teaching is spread over a greater period of time. This is designed to ease transition to the rigour of GCSE knowledge and skills.
The syllabus is derived from the AQA exam board and we encourage students to use and identify the units of study, as these are reflected in support media. Therefore, units will be labelled with a letter and a number, for example ‘B1’ refers to Biology Unit 1.
Students in the upper two sets will start the Triple Science course in order to allow students time to assimilate to a GCSE style course, whilst still retaining the option for some groups or individuals to move between these sets, without changing their course. As data is collected across the year groups will become more refined and will result in some move across the Combined Science course in Year 10.
Students in the remaining groups will start the Combined Science course from the start of Year 9, initially on higher tier.
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Terms |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
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Autumn (and up to February half-term)
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Biology: Students start with the unit B1 Cell Biology. This includes topics on:
B1 is the natural starting point both in terms of the supporting literature and resources, but also the concepts underpin the future units. Chemistry: This half year we start to study the C1 Atomic Structure topic. This topic is the basis of all the Chemistry that students will study throughout their GCSE and includes:
Physics: Year 9 students begin their GCSE by studying the P1 Energy topic, this very important topic quite a few equations and also includes:
This unit focuses upon the one of the main concepts for GCSE and is the foundation of many of the subsequent topics. |
Upon the completion of each unit students will sit the appropriate level of test from Collins Connect. These tests are about 40 marks and take 40 minutes to complete (extra time is provided for those with additional needs) We want to expose students to style of questions they experience in a GCSE exam and then share with them the way in which questions are marked during feedback sessions. Students are given the opportunity to add corrections to their tests, to aid in revision in later exams. During this term students will also undertake some of the Required Practicals for GCSE. These are scientific experiments and investigations that students can be asked questions on in a GCSE Science examination. Questions can involve skills, such as: planning, interpretation/evaluation of data and calculations. During this term students will undertake:
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Spring into Summer |
Biology: This half year will see the beginning of unit B2. This topic is split into 2 distinct halves and include:
Chemistry: This half year we start to study the C2 Bonding topic. This topic helps students to understand the basis of all the chemical reactions that students will study throughout their GCSE and includes:
Physics: In Physics during this half year we study the P2 Electricity topic. This includes:
P2 was selected as the heavier practical demand of this unit gives students the opportunity learn key practical skills, develop engagement and to access abstract concepts. |
This term will follow the same assessment model to allow students to have familiarity in terms of expectations and time to get used to the changes in assessment style. Requires practicals studied in this term include:
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Homework will be set accordance to the topics covered, lesson activities and whether the class is shared or taught by a single teacher. We give advanced warning for assessments and direct students towards revision materials or task, with a focus on developing the skills for more independent learning. Students will also have a class login for Seneca Learning that will be used throughout the year to support learning.
Throughout the year there may be opportunities to attend trips such as Science Live, where students are able to experience talks by famous scientists. We also run a trip to the Large Hadron Collider in CERN Geneva, Switzerland. This five-night trip provides a rare opportunity to learn about cutting-edge high-energy physics by brilliant scientists from around the world.
Curiosity is a fantastic thing to foster in young learners and, in the addition to formal support (ie. homework, revision etc.), it is great to develop a strong scientific general knowledge. This can take multiple forms and there is no correct way of doing it. But by introducing young minds to: scientific documentaries (Attenborough is always a favourite! iPlayer and other providers have a fantastic selection), attending museums and even through discussing what they are studying can contribute to development.
Online support can be found using the follow websites:
Students will study either a combined Science course or three separate Science GCSEs. Both are detailed below.
This course is taught over the course of three years (starting in Year 9) and ends with a terminal examination of six exam papers (two for each Science). The course is designed to give students a broad understanding of how science works, by building on previous knowledge, utilising scientific methodology. Students learn how they can apply their learning to real world examples, for instance, dealing with the causes of climate change. Students will carry out set required practicals that they must remember (method, results and conclusions).
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Year |
Timescale |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
|
9 |
Autumn – Feb half-term |
B1 Cell Biology, C1 Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table, P1 Energy |
Formal end of topic tests (Teacher marked, feedback to students, student improvement) Online knowledge checks (Seneca Learning) Mock papers are used to secure knowledge and gain skills in answering longer answer formats. Teachers and their students gain insights into areas of strength and further areas to develop |
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Feb half-term – End of year |
B2 Organisation, C2 Bonding, P2 Electricity |
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10 |
Autumn |
B3 Infection & Response, C3 Quantitative Chemistry, C4 Chemical Reactions, P3 Particle Model of Matter |
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Spring |
B4 Bioenergetics, B5 Homeostasis and Response, C5 Energy Changes, P4 Atomic Structure MOCK PAPER 1 – all topics covered so far |
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Summer |
B6 Inheritance, Variation and Evolution, C6 Rates of Reaction, P6 Waves |
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11 |
Autumn |
B7 Ecology (in part), C7 Organic Chemistry, C8 Chemical Analysis, P5 Forces and Motion (in part) |
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Spring - 1 |
B7 Ecology (complete), C9 Chemistry of the Atmosphere, C10 Using Resources, P5 Forces and Motion (complete), P7 Magnetism and Electromagnetism MOCK PAPEER 2 - B5, B6, B7, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, P5, P6, P7 |
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Spring - 2 |
Pre-exam consolidation (review, revisit Required Practicals, Exam Technique and Question practice) |
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Summer |
Period of Formal Examinations |
6x Papers (2x Biology, 2x Chemistry, 2x Physics), marked by AQA examiners. |
Students on this course can sit Higher or Foundation tiers. The students will sit six exams, lasting 75 minutes a piece, 2x Biology, 2X Chemistry and 2x Physics. Each exam is out of 70 marks, making 420 possible marks. The marks for all exams are added together and a grade awarded. Students are then awarded two GCSEs for this subject. Higher tier students can reach a maximum of 9/9 down to 4/4, whereas Foundation tier have a maximum of 5/5 but going down to 1/1.
Science has now fully integrated a new system of resources that are not only used by class teachers during each lesson, but are also available for all students when at home. This not only helps to support all learners but helps to augment class learning and, more importantly, helps those that are off school with illness. Students navigate to https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/portal.aspx ,and click on Student Sign in. Upon entering the school name, students follow the instruction for identifying themselves. A series of online resources are then shown. The left two courses (“books”) are for year7 and year8, the three books on the right are for triple students, studying separate sciences. For those on the Combined Trilogy course, they press the “2” icon at the bottom right of the page, which then has the three courses (“books”) for their use.
This course is taught over the course of three years (starting in Year9) and ends with a terminal examination of two exam papers. This course is designed to give students a deep understanding of the sciences, including how science works, building on previous knowledge in KS3, and honing scientific methodology. Separate Sciences are harder than Combined Science as students will cover all the content contained in Combined Science, plus more, and with additional and deeper learning. Students will carry out a greater set of required practicals that they must remember (method, results and conclusions).
|
Year |
Timescale |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
|
9 |
Autumn – Feb half-term |
B1 Cell Biology |
Formal end of topic tests (Teacher marked, feedback to students, student improvement) Online knowledge checks (Seneca Learning) Mock papers are used to secure knowledge and gain skills in answering longer answer formats. Teachers and their students gain insights into areas of strength and further areas to develop |
|
Feb half-term – End of year |
B2 Organisation |
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10 |
Autumn |
B3 Infection & Response |
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Spring |
B4 Bioenergetics, B5 Homeostasis and Response MOCK PAPER 1 – B1,B2,B3,B4 |
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Summer |
B6 Inheritance, Variation and Evolution |
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11 |
Autumn |
B7 Ecology (in part) |
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Spring - 1 |
B7 Ecology (complete) MOCK PAPER2 – B5,B6,B7 |
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Spring - 2 |
Pre-exam consolidation (review, revisit Required Practicals, Exam Technique and Question practice) |
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Summer |
Period of Formal Examinations |
2x Papers marked by AQA examiners. |
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Year |
Timescale |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
|
9 |
Autumn – Feb half-term |
C4 Chemical Changes |
Formal end of topic tests (Teacher marked, feedback to students, student improvement) Online knowledge checks (Seneca Learning) Mock papers are used to secure knowledge and gain skills in answering longer answer formats. Teachers and their students gain insights into areas of strength and further areas to develop |
|
Feb half-term – End of year |
C1 Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table |
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10 |
Autumn |
C2 Bonding, Structure and the Properties of Matter, C3 Quantitative Chemistry |
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Spring |
C5 Energy Changes, C6 Rates of Reaction MOCK PAPER 1 – C1,C2,C3,C4,C5 |
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Summer |
C7 Organic Chemistry, C8 Chemical Analysis |
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11 |
Autumn |
C9 Chemistry of the Atmosphere, C10 Using Resources (in part) |
|
|
Spring - 1 |
C10 Using Resources (complete) MOCK PAPER2 – C6,C7,C8,C9,C10 |
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Spring - 2 |
Pre-exam consolidation (review, revisit Required Practicals, Exam Technique and Question practice) |
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Summer |
Period of Formal Examinations |
2x Papers marked by AQA examiners. |
|
Year |
Timescale |
Topics studied; skills and knowledge |
How this will be assessed |
|
9 |
Autumn – Feb half-term |
P3 Particle Model of Matter |
Formal end of topic tests (Teacher marked, feedback to students, student improvement) Online knowledge checks (Seneca Learning) Mock papers are used to secure knowledge and gain skills in answering longer answer formats. Teachers and their students gain insights into areas of strength and further areas to develop |
|
Feb half-term – End of year |
P2 Electricity |
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10 |
Autumn |
P1 Energy, P4 Atomic Structure |
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Spring |
P6 Waves MOCK PAPER 1 – P1,P2,P3,P4 |
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Summer |
P5 Forces and Motion (in part) |
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11 |
Autumn |
P5 Forces and Motion (complete), P7 Magnetism and Electromagnetism, P8 Space Physics (in part)
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|
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Spring - 1 |
P8 Space Physics (complete) MOCK PAPER2 – P5,P6,P7,P8 |
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Spring - 2 |
Pre-exam consolidation (review, revisit Required Practicals, Exam Technique and Question practice) |
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Summer |
Period of Formal Examinations |
2x Papers marked by AQA examiners. |
Science has now fully integrated a new system of resources that are not only used by class teachers during each lesson, but are also available for all students when at home. This not only helps to support all learners but helps to augment class learning and, more importantly, helps those that are off school with illness. Students navigate to https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/portal.aspx ,and click on Student Sign in. Upon entering the school name, students follow the instruction for identifying themselves. A series of online resources are then shown. The left two courses (“books”) are for year7 and year8, the three books on the right are for triple students , studying separate sciences.
At GCSE level, students are expected to take more responsibility for their learning (developing outside interests in Science documentaries etc) at home. This is especially important for Triple students – deeper learning requires self-discipline, organisation and determination to succeed. Students will be set tasks, using a mixture of online learning, and hardcopy worksheets to strengthen their knowledge gained in the classroom. This will be self marked, peer marked or teacher marked, depending on the task complexity.
Students on this course sit Higher tier. The students will sit two exams, lasting 105 minutes a piece. Each exam is out of 100 marks. Students are awarded a GCSE grade from a maximum of 9/9 down to 4/4. Students achieving less well than a 4/4 may be offered the combined science course, or the separate science course at foundation level.
Students in Year11 are invited to Booster sessions throughout the course of the year, to help with any knowledge deficits or to help with any skills.
Students in Year9 and Year10 are invited to apply to go to CERN – the Large Hadron Collider – in Geneva, Switzerland. This international trip lasts 4 days and we get the opportunity to see the place where the world’s premiere High Energy Physics takes place! We sometimes even see Nobel Prize winning Physicists walking about.
It is important to realise that Triple is not the correct course for all students , due to its academic rigour. Starting their GCSE earlier than other subjects has certain advantages and disadvantages. Students enjoy being taught in a more adult fashion while learning new concepts. Sometimes however, this can be a daunting experience, as they are not quite mature enough to cope with the increased workload. We encourage parents and guardians to talk regularly to their children to find out what they are learning in Science – it may spark some conversations from when they were young!
Science depends very heavily on Maths, and therefore we encourage all of our students to ensure that they really pay attention in Maths lessons to hone their skills in numeracy and in rearranging equations. Students will need a good Scientific calculator (Casio fx-85GTX ones are good as they are also solar powered). Online learning support for students is a very useful tool to help strengthen neurons for factual recall, and we recommend not only using Seneca Learning (www.senecalearning.com) but also BBCBitesize (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zsc9rdm)
Melbourn Village College
The Moor, Melbourn
Royston SG8 6EF
Tel: 01763 223400
Email: office@melbournvc.org Absence: absence@melbournvc.org
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Melbourn Village College is an academy of The Cam Academy Trust, a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales with company number 0749 1945.
The registered office is at Comberton Village College, West Street, Comberton, Cambridgeshire, CB23 7DU
