Science

Overview

In year 7 and year 8 boys have one, or in some cases two, science teachers who deliver an engaging, practical orientated and knowledge rich overview of all three sciences delivered through twelve exciting modules from Cells and Organisms to The Earth in Space. We broadly follow the AQA KS3 Activate resources with added challenges to keep our young scientists developing. We assess our students through end of topic low-stake quizzes completed online and termly assessment points with synoptic questions which span across all three core sciences (please see the curriculum planner at the foot of this page which shows the teaching order and loose dates of study for each topic).

From year 9, through to year 11, the sciences are taught by specialist staff who deliver the AQA 9-1 specification. All students complete single science GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. These courses deepen the understanding our students have of all manner of scientific processes and problems, they provide them with a challenging scaffold to build ideas upon whilst also giving us the opportunity to embed practical work and real-world application to elements of theory. The 9-1 AQA course give learners an excellent foundation for further study and we have a fantastic history of high performance, regularly achieving 80% plus grades at 7-9 with 40% graded as 9. (please see the individual science pages linked here:- Biology - Chemistry - Physics)

The study of the Sciences, including Geology and Psychology, at A Level are extremely popular choices at BWS - nearly 300 science A-levels were sat here last year with very strong results and students heading to fantastic destinations including university places to study engineering (in its many forms), medicine and veterinarian sciences, oceanography, astrophysics and more. We follow the OCR specifications in each subject area (Psychology AQA). There is a great deal of further information on these courses which can be found in each of the relevant subject areas.

There are a wide array of science enrichment opportunities available throughout the year to further the interest of the students, from lower school STEM club squid dissections and mobile planetarium visits to 6th form STEM Careers Day and multiple student run societies. We place a great deal of value in the super-curricular activities we offer and we do so to ensure learners have a wide appreciation and understanding of the application of the sciences to our everyday life. Check out our Twitter (@BWSScience) and Instagram (@BWSScience) for more information, or read much more on the Science Enrichment Page.

Almost all of the Science teaching is carried out in the well-equipped specialist science labs; there are 8 well-equipped laboratories in addition to classroom used for A Level teaching and independent study. The department has excellent technician support which facilitates subject teaching centered on developing practical scientific skills.