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Science

Science  Core Knowledge            

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Aylsham High School science

The Aylsham High School science curriculum aims to teach to all pupils an engaging, inspiring and relevant curriculum which prepares them with the core knowledge and basic skills required within the KS3 national curriculum.  This provides them with a good solid foundation enabling them to succeed at KS4 and beyond through the provision of high quality resources within school and through the planning of regular and meaningful homework.   The importance of practical skills is also considered, ensuring a good foundation is laid from year 7 onwards to ensure practical skills are developed all the way through.

The KS3 curriculum is designed into units of studies which are repeated yearly to enable the interleaving of key content, but more importantly, is designed so that it does not repeat content but allow to develop and deepen knowledge whilst allowing for recall.

At KS4 the curriculum across all three sciences follows the exam board specification which continues to develop on the units studied at KS3 whilst embedding further practical skills where appropriate.

Revision materials for each year are available from the science department, and students will be provided with core questions as well as keywords and definitions for each topic, which will be tested during assessments, and form part of their homework throughout the year.  Assessment will be based on students' performance in class assessment tasks, such as core question check quizzes and end of term assessments, and during the whole school internal assessment window. 

Year 7

AHS Science Pathway - please scroll down to the bottom of this page to see two documents illustrating the AHS Science Pathway and topics covered.   

All workbooks, the homework booklet and sets of revision questions can be accessed (by students logged into their alf.education account) via the science section of the Year 7 class on Aylsham High School Google Classroom website link here: 

AHS Science Year 7 Google Classroom

Core Knowledge:        Y7 Core Questions 

Workbooks: On Google classroom

Homework book: Year 7 homework book 

Schemes of work

In year 7 students learn a curriculum of biology, chemistry and physics, it is repeated and developed over the 3 key stages to strengthen students understanding of the concepts being taught.

The topics we have developed at Aylsham High School are shown in the table below.

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

B1 Cells and Body Systems

B2 Respiration

B3 Genetics

B4 Ecosystems

C1 Atoms and The Periodic Table

C2 Particle Theory

C3 Chemical Reactions

C4 Earth Sciences/P5 Astronomy

C5 Metals

P1 Forces and Motion 

P2 Energy

P3 Electricity and Magnetism

P4 Waves

 

The class your child is in will determine the order of topics they’ll be learning in their lessons at Aylsham High School.  Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term.

Rotation B- 7A1 7B1 7B2 

Rotation C- 7B3 7B6 7B7

Rotation P- 7A2 7B4 7B5

Rotation

Autumn term

Spring term

Summer term

B

B1 C1 P1 B2 C2 P2

B3 C3 P3 P4

B4 C5 C4/P5  

C

C1 P1 B1 C2 P2 B2

C3 P3 P4 B3 

C5 C4/P5 B4 

P

P1 B1 C1 P2 B2 C2

P3 P4 B3 C3 

C4/P5  B4 C5 

End of Year 7 exams

We want students to feel confident and comfortable in the approach of their end of year exams.

This will come from knowing what content is being assessed, and feeling able to recall knowledge and apply to the exam questions.

Learning core knowledge has shown to improve student’s confidence and performance in tests and exams. You can support your child with their end of year exam by assessing them with the core knowledge regularly. 20 minutes a week is ideal. The core knowledge questions are provided to all students in their booklets, or electronic copies can be found on the school’s website.

The content which will be examined in our end of year 7 exams are as illustrated in the table. You can find the curriculum outcomes detailing the content which will be examined in the year 7 curriculum document.

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

B1 Cells and Body Systems

B2 Respiration

B3 Genetics

C1 Atoms and The Periodic Table

C2 Particle Theory

C3 Chemical Reactions

P1 Forces and motion 

P2 Energy

P3 Electricity and Magnetism 

Year 8

All workbooks, the homework booklet and sets of revision questions can be accessed (by students logged into their alf.education account) via the science section of the Year 8 class on Aylsham High School Google Classroom website, link here: 

 AHS Year 8 Science Google Classroom 

Core Knowledge: Y8 Core Questions 

Workbook: On google classroom 

Homework bookletYear 8 homework book 

Schemes of work

In year 8 students learn a curriculum of biology, chemistry and physics, it is repeated and developed over the 3 key stages to strengthen students understanding of the concepts being taught. They will revisit and build upon concepts they have started to learn in year 7, and will deepen them further in year 9.

The topics we have developed at Aylsham High School are shown in the table below.

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

B1 Cells and Body Systems

B2 Respiration

B3 Genetics

B4 Ecosystems

C1 Atoms and The Periodic Table

C2 Particle Theory

C3 Chemical Reactions

C4 Earth Sciences/P5 Astronomy

C5 Metals

P1 Forces and Motion 

P2 Energy

P3 Electricity and Magnetism

P4 Waves

 

The class your child is in will determine the order of topics they’ll be learning in their lessons at Aylsham High School.  Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term.

Rotation B- 8E1 8E3 8W4

Rotation C- 8W2 8W3 8W5 

Rotation P- 8E2 8E4 8W1

Rotation

Autumn term

Spring term

Summer term

B

B1 P1 C1 B2 C2 P2 

B3 C3 P3 P4

B4 C4/P5 C5 

C

 B1 C1 P1 C2 P2 B2

C3 P3 P4 B3 

C4/5 C5 B4 

P

B1 P1 C1 P2 B2 C2

P3 P4 B3 C3 

 C5 B4 C4/P5   

End of Year 8 exams

We want students to feel confident and comfortable in the approach of their end of year exams.

This will come from knowing what content is being assessed, and feeling able to recall knowledge and apply to the exam questions.

Learning core knowledge has shown to improve student’s confidence and performance in tests and exams. You can support your child with their end of year exam by assessing them with the core knowledge regularly. 20 minutes a week is ideal. The core knowledge questions are provided to all students in their booklets, or electronic copies can be found on the school’s website.

The content which will be examined in our end of year 8 exams are as illustrated in the table. You can find the curriculum outcomes detailing the content which will be examined in the year 8 curriculum document.

Year 9

All workbooks, the homework booklet and sets of revision questions can be accessed (by students logged into their alf.education account) via the science section of the Year 9 class on Aylsham High School Google Classroom website, link here:

 AHS Year 9 Science Google Classroom 

Core Knowledge: Year 9 Core questions 

Workbooks:  On google classroom

Homework booklet: Year 9 homework book 

In year 7 students learn a curriculum of biology, chemistry and physics, it is repeated and developed over the 3 key stages to strengthen students understanding of the concepts being taught.  The topics we have developed at Aylsham High School are shown in the table below.

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

B1 Cells and Body Systems

B2 Respiration

B3 Genetics

B4 Ecosystems

C1 Atoms and The Periodic Table

C2 Particle Theory

C3 Chemical Reactions

C4 Earth Sciences/P5 Astronomy

C5 Metals

P1 Forces

P2 Motion

P3 Electricity and Magnetism

P4 Waves

 

The class your child is in will determine the order of topics they’ll be learning in their lessons at Aylsham High School.  Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term.

Rotation B- 9E1 9W1 

Rotation C- 9E2 9W2 9W5 

Rotation P- 9E3 9E4 9W3 9W4 

Rotation

Autumn term

Spring term

Summer term

B

B1 P1 C1 B2 C2 P2 

B3 C3 P3 P4

B4 C4/P5 C5 

C

 B1 C1 P1 C2 P2 B2

C3 P3 P4 B3 

C4/5 C5 B4 

P

B1 P1 C1 P2 B2 C2

P3 P4 B3 C3 

 C5 B4 C4/P5   

     

End of Year exams

At the end of year 9 students will sit an end of KS3 exam. This exam will assess students’ knowledge from the last 3 years.  The outline of content can be found on the government’s KS3 Science national curriculum document:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335174/SECONDARY_national_curriculum_-_Science_220714.pdf

In addition to this, the BBC bitesize can be a useful place to review content being assessed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zng4d2p

We want students to feel confident and comfortable in the approach of their internal assessment.

This will come from knowing what content is being assessed and feeling able to recall knowledge and apply to the exam questions.

Learning core knowledge has shown to improve students' confidence and performance in tests and exams. You can support your child with their end of year exam by assessing them with the core knowledge regularly. 20 minutes a week is ideal. The core knowledge questions are provided to all students in their booklets, or electronic copies can be found on the school’s website. 

The content which will be examined in our year 9 assessment will be content from all units from 7 and 8 and content from units 1-3  for biology, chemistry, and physics from year 9 as illustrated in the table above.  You can find the curriculum outcomes detailing the content which will be examined in the year 9 curriculum document.

Key Stage 4

Year 10

All students will complete the same course in year 10, regardless whether they have opted to study separate science or not. The separate science courses contain the same content as the combined science route, but does include extra content.

Curriculum: https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_CombinedScience_Spec.pdf

Core Knowledge: 

GCSE Biology  Core Knowledge

GCSE Chemistry Core Knowledge

GCSE Physics Core Knowledge

 

Schemes of work

Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term. The topic title and number refers to the topics shown in Edexcel’s specifications. You can find out explicitly what your child needs to learn for each topic and subject by following the links provided above.

Year 10 combined science

 

Autumn

Spring

Summer

Biology

1) Key concepts

2) Cells and control

3) Genetics

4) Natural selection

5) Health

6) Plants

Chemistry

0) Formulae, equations and hazards

1) Atoms

2) States of Matter and mixtures

3) Chemical change

3) Chemical change cont

Physics

1) Key concepts

2) Forces and motion

3) Conservation of energy

4) Waves

5) Light and the electromagnetic spectrum

10) Electricity

End of Year 10 Exams

At the end of year 10, students will sit a paper for each of their science subjects. Each paper is 45 minutes long and students will have to choose their tier. This tier has to be the same across all 3 subjects and does not have to be the same tier as your final exams, it is useful to see which paper best suits you, you can always ask for a copy of the other tier if you wanted to see which one you would have performed best in.

We want students to feel confident and comfortable in the approach of their end of year exams.

This will come from knowing what content is being assessed, and feeling able to recall knowledge and apply to the exam questions.

Learning core knowledge has shown to improve student’s confidence and performance in tests and exams. You can support your child with their end of year exam by assessing them with the core knowledge regularly. 20 minutes a week is ideal. Use the core knowledge booklets provided to all students, or electronic copies found on the school’s website or use quizlet.

It will also come from practising applying knowledge to exam questions. We also recommend students using revision time completing practice test questions, self-mark and improve their answers. This will enable students to identify where their weaknesses are, but also observe what answers are expected to exam questions.

The content assess in the exam papers are shown below;-

Biology paper 1

Chemistry paper 3

Physics paper 5

Key concepts in biology

Cells and control

Genetics

Natural selection and genetic modification

Key concepts in chemistry

States of matter and mixtures

 

Key concepts of physics

Motion and forces

Conservation of energy

Waves

Light and the EM spectrum

Year 11 combined science

Curriculum: https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_CombinedScience_Spec.pdf

Core Knowledge: 

GCSE Biology  Core Knowledge

GCSE Chemistry Core Knowledge

GCSE Physics Core Knowledge

Schemes of Work

Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term. The topic title and number refers to the topics shown in Edexcel’s specifications. You can find out explicitly what your child needs to learn for each topic and subject by following the links provided above.

 

Autumn

Spring

Biology

9) Ecosystems

7) Homeostasis

5) Health – review

6) Plants

8) Exchange and transport

4) Natural selection

Chemistry

4) Extracting metals and equilibria- some review

6) Groups in the periodic table

7) Rates of reaction

8) Fuels and Earth Science

Physics

14) Particle model

6) Radioactivity

8) Energy - forces doing work

9) Forces and their effects

10) Electricity 

15) Forces and matter

12) Magnetism and the motor effect

13) Electromagnetic induction

Year 11 Combined Science January Mock Exams

We want students to feel confident and comfortable in the approach of their end of year exams.

This will come from knowing what content is being assessed, and feeling able to recall knowledge and apply to the exam questions.

Learning core knowledge has shown to improve student’s confidence and performance in tests and exams. You can support your child with their end of year exam by assessing them with the core knowledge regularly. 20 minutes a week is ideal. Use the core knowledge booklets provided to all students, or electronic copies found on the school’s website or use quizlet.

It will also come from practising applying knowledge to exam questions. We also recommend students using revision time completing practice test questions, self-mark and improve their answers. This will enable students to identify where their weaknesses are, but also observe what answers are expected to exam questions.

You will sit three exam papers, the content will only assess your year 10 subject content.

The topics included are shown in the table below.

Biology paper 1

Chemistry paper 3

Physics paper 5

Key concepts in biology

Cells and control

Genetics

Natural selection and genetic modification

Health, disease and the development of medicines

Key concepts in chemistry

States of matter and mixtures

Chemical changes

Extracting metals and equilibria

Key concepts of physics

Motion and forces

Conservation of energy

Waves

Light and the EM spectrum

Radioactivity

Y11 Separate Biology

Curriculum: https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_Biology_Spec.pdf

Core Knowledge: KEY CORE INFO PACK TRIPLES1 Biology

Schemes of Work

Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term. The topic title and number refers to the topics shown in Edexcel’s specifications. You can find out explicitly what your child needs to learn for each topic and subject by following the links provided above.

 

Autumn

Spring

Separate Biology

Year 10 Separate Bio-specific content

6) Plants

9) Ecosystems

7) Homeostasis

5) Health – review

 

8) Exchange and transport

4) Natural selection

2) The Brain

3) Reproduction, genetic variation and disorders and protein synthesis

Year 11 Separate Biology January Mock Exams

This exam paper will assess year 10 content. There will be a mixture of different question styles, including multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, calculations and extended open-response questions.

Calculators may be used in the examination.

It will be 1 hour and 45 minutes long, just like the real papers you will sit later in the year.

The topics assessed are:

Topic 1 – Key concepts in biology

Topic 2 – Cells and control

Topic 3 – Genetics

Topic 4 – Natural selection and genetic modification

Topic 5 – Health, disease and the development of medicines

Y11 Separate Chemistry

Curriculum: https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_Chemistry_Spec.pdf

Core Knowledge: Core knowledge triple booklet Chemistry

                                          

Schemes of Work

Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term. The topic title and number refers to the topics shown in Edexcel’s specifications. You can find out explicitly what your child needs to learn for each topic and subject by following the links provided above.

 

Autumn

Spring

Separate Chemistry

 

4) Extracting metals and equilibria- some review

6) Groups in the periodic table

7) Rates of reaction

5) Separate chemistry 1- transition metals, alloys, quantitative analysis and dynamic equilibrium

8) Fuels and Earth Science

9) Separate chemistry 2- tests for ions, hydrocarbons, polymers, alcohols and nanoparticles

Year 11 Separate Chemistry January Mock Exams

This exam paper will assess year 10 content. There will be a mixture of different question styles, including multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, calculations and extended open-response questions.

Calculators may be used in the examination.

It will be 1 hour and 45 minutes long, just like the real papers you will sit later in the year.

The topics assessed are:

Topic 1 – Key concepts in chemistry

Topic 2 – States of matter and mixtures

Topic 3 – Chemical changes

Topic 4 – Extracting metals and equilibria

Topic 5 – Separate chemistry 1

Y11 Separate Physics

Curriculum: https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Science/2016/Specification/GCSE_Physics_Spec.pdf

Core Knowledge: Complete booklets SEP PHYSICS

Schemes of Work

Please see the tables below to see which topics your child will be learning in each term. The topic title and number refers to the topics shown in Edexcel’s specifications. You can find out explicitly what your child needs to learn for each topic and subject by following the links provided above.

 

Autumn

Spring

Separate Physics

14) Particle model

6) Radioactivity

10) Electricity - some review

2) Forces and Motion Separate Science additional content

8) Energy -  forces doing work

9) Forces and their effects

11) Static Electricity

7) Astronomy

15) Forces and matter

5) Light and the EM Spectrum Separate Science additional content

4) Waves Separate Science additional content

12) Magnetism and the Motor Effect

13) Electromagnetic induction

Year 11 Separate Physics January Mock Exams

This exam paper will assess year 10 content. There will be a mixture of different question styles, including multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, calculations and extended open-response questions.

Calculators may be used in the examination.

It will be 1 hour and 45 minutes long, just like the real papers you will sit later in the year.

The topics assessed are:

Topic 1 – Key concepts of physics

Topic 2 – Motion and forces

Topic 3 – Conservation of energy

Topic 4 – Waves

Topic 5 – Light and the electromagnetic spectrum

Topic 6 – Radioactivity

 GCSE options and exam information

Exam board: Edexcel

The science department has several routes through to qualification depending on a student’s interest in science.

There will be a choice of two main routes to science GCSEs, either a two-GCSE combined science or a three-GCSE separate science route (consisting of GCSE biology, GCSE chemistry and GCSE physics).

The first option is to study combined science.  This is a two-GCSE sized (double award) qualification covering the three science disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.  Students are awarded a grade based on their overall performance across these three disciplines. 

Combined science students will sit six exams at the end of the course as shown here -.

Biology 1

Paper 1

1hr 10min

60 marks

Chemistry 1

Paper 2

1hr 10min

60 marks

Physics 1

Paper 3

1hr 10min

60 marks

Biology 2

Paper 4

1hr 10min

60 marks

Chemistry 2

Paper 5

1hr 10min

60 marks

Physics 2

Paper 6

1hr 10min

60 marks

There will be two biology exams, two chemistry exams and two physics exams.  All exams are 1 hour 10 minutes, and each exam will cover half of the content for that discipline.

There will be foundation tier and higher tier papers, and students must sit all six exams at the same tier.  Foundation tier is for students who are aiming for grades 1–5, and higher tier is for students who are aiming for grades 4–9.  The science department will give guidance on the appropriate tier of entry.  As it is a double award qualification, students will receive two grades. These grades could be the same number, e.g. 6, 6 or 7, 7.  However, some students may receive a grade with adjacent numbers, e.g. 6, 7.  This will signify a student who is at an intermediate point between the standard required for a 6, 6 grade, and the standard required for a 7, 7 grade.

The second option is to study three separate sciences, which gives three GCSEs: GCSE biology, GCSE chemistry and GCSE physics.  Students are awarded individual grades for each discipline.  Separate science students study all of the content from biology, chemistry and physics disciplines of combined science, but with added extra material in each discipline.  Separate science students also sit six exams at the end of the course.

The biology GCSE combines these 2 papers:

The chemistry GCSE combines these 2 papers:

The physics GCSE combines these 2 papers:

Biology 1

Paper 1

1hr 45min

100 marks

Chemistry 1

Paper 2

1hr 45min

100 marks

Physics 1

Paper 3

1hr 45min

100 marks

Biology 2

Paper 4

1hr 45min

100 marks

Chemistry 2

Paper 5

1hr 45min

100 marks

Physics 2

Paper 6

1hr 45min

100 marks

These six exams, at 1 hour 45 minutes, are slightly longer than the combined science exams. Each exam will cover half of the content for that discipline.  There will be foundation tier and higher tier papers.  Foundation tier is for students who are aiming for grades 1–5, and higher tier is for students who are aiming for grades 4–9.  The science department will give guidance on the appropriate tier of entry.  In the separate science pathway, students can choose different tiers for different disciplines.  So, for example, a student may choose to sit physics and chemistry at higher tier and biology at foundation tier.  Students will receive a grade between 1 and 9 for each of biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs.

Separate science is offered as a GCSE option subject and as such is suited to students of all levels of ability.