The Department

Curriculum Leader: Miss A Fotheringham                                                                                                                                          Assistant Curriculum Leader & Curriculum Leader for Chemistry: Mr D Bowyer                                                                                                                                                                                  

STEAM in Science

The Science department offers a wide variety of STEAM activities. This provides students who are passionate about science or considering a career in a STEAM based environment with invaluable enrichment opportunities.

In Years 7 and 8 a Science club is run by staff and supported by post 16 students in the Autumn and Spring terms. Students are invited to attend and experience a number of practical activities that are linked to everyday applications of science.. Year 7 students attend a trip to Whipsnade Zoo and this is linked to the science curriculum and teaches them about how animals and plants adapt to their habitats.

Year 9 students are involved in a STEAM activity day and this is run with links to British Science Week. This is a cross curricular opportunity and the Maths and Design Technology departments are also involved. They involve a variety of themes, such as designing electric cars, and help students to see the applications of these subjects particularly in Engineering.

In Year 10 students take part in the Live Operating Theatre, seeing concepts from the Biology classroom in real life. At Key Stage 5 all science subjects offer students Olympiads to stretch and challenge them. Each department also runs specific activities including Physics and Biology in Action and a Spectroscopy session for chemists. These are all done at universities in London.

KS3

What will be studied?

Students are taught topics in Biology, Chemistry and Physics in rotation, three times per week. We follow the national curriculum using a contextual approach to teach the concepts. For example, students in Year 7 will complete a module on Motorsport, learning about Forces, Speed and Acceleration. Throughout our curricula a great emphasis is placed on Working Scientifically skills which we teach through practical experiments. This includes the ability to draw conclusions from data and evaluate theories.