Our broad and balanced Science curriculum is designed and sequenced to maximise progression for all, and we aim to provide the best quality of science education. From Year 7, students will acquire and utilise skills that help develop them into scientifically literate global citizens – something that is crucial for the world we are all living in today. As a department, we have taken significant care to ensure that the curriculum’s design facilitates a smooth and successful transition across all key stages. We also take pride in our curriculum provision as it involves more than coverage of the National Curriculum outcomes; it encompasses experiences and exposure to areas related to social, moral, spiritual and cultural experiences as well as promoting fundamental British values. Students’ five-year learning journey adequately prepares them for their choices at post-16. The curriculum at both key stages is fundamentally designed to build on existing knowledge, to continually interleave past knowledge and skills and to provide assessment as a natural tool to promote progression. From Year 7, students are exposed to the ‘big ideas’ that underpin the Science curriculum; cells, energy, forces and matter. These big ideas are then entwined throughout the entire curriculum. In order to support students with the high cognitive demand in Science, we have sequenced our curriculum in a ‘spiralling’ fashion. This is achieved by frequently reintroducing and subsequently building upon said big ideas during students’ learning journeys across the three science disciplines. Science underpins everything we do in life. As such, we believe that our Science curriculum allows for significant learning links to be made across many other subjects. We champion the highest levels of numeracy and literacy skills alongside the skills of a scientist – skills which can support all students’ learning and progress across the school. The articulate use of accurate scientific language in Key Stage 3 is vital to developing deeper understanding going into Key Stage 4 and can dispel a lot of misconceptions pupils have about the scientific world. Both our Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 curriculum have been designed using these core objectives: • high quality teaching of the core concepts in Key Stage 3 Biology, Chemistry and Physics to prepare students for Key Stage 4 and beyond • develop students’ natural inquisitiveness and fascination for the scientific world around them • to create resilient and passionate young scientists that can confidently explore scientific theory through investigation and practical work which allows them to gather evidence to form their own conclusions • promote a sense of pride in all areas of work and for students to continually grow confident in their own abilities. In Key Stage 3 Science, students gain experience in topics across Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Topics are selected and routed so that there can be clear progression and challenge year on year. In Key Stage 4 Science, we follow the AQA route for double and triple GCSE qualifications. We are confident of the robustness of our Key Stage 3 curriculum in laying firm foundations for progress at this level. The organisation of the Key Stage 4 curriculum intrinsically builds upon and interleaves prior learning to facilitate understanding of challenging new content. This allows students to follow a number of pathways in their further education. As a department, we are passionate in equipping students with a sufficient depth of knowledge, along with key skills, that will serve them well when they leave the Academy. We firmly believe that this will allow students to unlock their individual potential.