Key Stage 4
GCSE Science is taught by a team of enthusiastic specialist teachers. Students will build upon their learning from KS3 and continue to develop their enquiry and investigative skills. Students will receive both teaching and support to help prepare them for all aspects of their GCSE examinations at the end of year 11, as well as be inspired for what the amazing world of Science has to offer.
There are two routes offered to our students for GCSE Science and both require students to continue their studies in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The majority of our students will follow the GCSE AQA Trilogy route, whilst those students who have a real passion for science and wish to extend their understanding further can choose GCSE AQA Single Sciences.
The Trilogy route will be assessed by 6 exams each lasting 1 hour 15 minutes, where each subject area has 2 exams. Each exam is worth 16.7% of the final GCSE grade, and students will receive the equivalent of 2 GCSE Science qualifications.
The Single Science route will require the students to sit 2 examinations per subject area each lasting 1 hour 45 minutes and worth 50% of their final GCSE grade in that subject. Students will receive 3 separate GCSE Science qualifications.
All students have access to an online support in the form of a Kerboodle platform. This can be used to support their independent learning, provide background reading, homework activities and provide revision and examination practice.
Biology
“By ‘life’, we mean a thing that can nourish itself and grow and decay”. Aristotle, 384BC.
Biologists are scientists who study the natural world and all the living things in it, from the largest mammals down to our very own microscopic DNA. They try to understand how animals and organisms work (including us humans), how we evolved and the things that can make us sick or improve our health. Biologists use this knowledge to do things like try to stop the spread of disease, track down natural resources, improve public health, animal care and conservation, and work out the true impacts of things like pollution. All of these areas give a flavour of the content that is covered as part of the GCSE courses.
In GCSE Biology you will study:
- Cell Biology
- Organisation
- Infection and response
- Bioenergetics
- Homeostasis and response
- Inheritance, variation and evolution
- Ecology
“Biology gives you a brain. Life turns it into a mind”. Jeffrey Eugenides
Chemistry
“Knowing how contented, free, and joyful is life in the world of science, one fervently wishes that many would enter its portals.”
Dimitri Mendeleev
Chemistry is the study of matter and energy and the interaction between them. Chemistry is everywhere in the world around you! It's in the food you eat, clothes you wear, water you drink, medicines, air, cleaners... you name it. Chemistry can help you make informed decisions and teaches useful skills such as how to be objective and how to reason and solve problems. It helps you to understand current events, including news about petroleum, product recalls, pollution, the environment and technological advances. It can makes life's little mysteries a little less.... mysterious.
GCSE topics include
- Atomic structure and the periodic table
- Bonding, structure, and the properties of matter
- Quantitative chemistry
- Chemical changes
- Energy changes
- The rate and extent of chemical change
- Organic chemistry
- Chemical analysis
- Chemistry of the atmosphere
- Using resources
Physics
“In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” Terry Pratchett.
Physics is a challenging yet rewarding subject and to understand Physics is to understand the universe around us. From iPhone in your pocket to black holes out in deep space, Physics helps us to explain how the whole universe behaves. GCSE topics include:
- Energy
- Electricity
- Particle Model of matter
- Atomic Structure
- Forces
- Waves
- Magnetism and electromagnets
- Space
“Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness.” Bill Bryson.