Why do we learn physics?
The science curriculum teaches scientific knowledge and content as well as the skills that are authentic to the discipline and so will allow students to begin to think like a scientist. It is our intention that across all key stages, students can access the practical skills required to be a scientist and that we develop their understanding of the mathematical skills which will help them process, analyse and evaluate experimental data. Our aim is to provide a robust, knowledge rich curriculum that allows all learners to emerge informed, articulate, and well able to hold their own intellectually at university and beyond. Not only this, but also, our curriculum aims to develop “citizen scientists” who are able to engage with Science when it overlaps with their lives; for example when making healthcare decisions for themselves and their families or when deciding on the type of car they might purchase.
Head of Department
Ms C Gayle
Our approach
Our curriculum was designed by considering what a successful scientist looks like at A level and beyond and then mapping concepts back through each year.
Each year students cover topics within a threshold. The complexity of the content deepens and become more challenging as students progress through the school years. This model ensures that pupils can internalise key concepts and use them in ever-more sophisticated ways throughout their school career. It is not only subject content, but also the mathematical and working scientifically skills which are built into the curriculum in this way. Our knowledge rich curriculum is structured as a narrative overtime, which includes a fertile question for each topic to provide a golden thread through a sequence of learning allowing students to make links in and across the sciences.
At KS3 students will be taught the core, foundational knowledge in each of the three disciplines, they will begin to grapple and make sense of why things happen, feeding their growing curiosity. The most challenging and difficult topics will be introduced early in KS3 to give the students more than one opportunity at studying and grappling with these. Core skills, such as using equations, identifying variables and drawing conclusions, will be presented here; we will use a “junior version” of what we expect at KS4 and beyond, rather than oversimplifying and losing meaning.
We have, by necessity, included all the content currently included in the AQA Separate Award, but have also included concepts not covered by the specification, but considered important to a deep understanding of scientific ideas. We include Triple Science content in Y7-9 as it means that every child has the option of taking Triple Science for GCSE when they pick options at the end of Year 9.
At KS4 students will deepen and secure their foundational knowledge and begin to use, interpret and justify why practical procedures happen, what they tell us and how we can modify them for the benefit of human and animal population.
At KS5, pupils can study A-Level Science, which deepens their understanding of each subject discipline, preparing pupils for further education. A BTEC Extended Diploma in Biomedical Science will also be available for pupils who are interested in pursuing a career in a practical aspect of Biology.
Year 12
| Autumn |
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Basics of electricity Current voltage characteristics Resistivity Circuits Potential dividers EMF Scalers and vectors Moments Motion along a straight line projectile motion Use of SI units and their pre fixes Estimation of physical quantities Bulk properties of solids The Youngs modulus Work, energy and power Conservation of energy |
| Spring |
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Progressive waves Longitudinal and transverse waves Principle of superposition of waves and formation of stationary waves Refraction, diffraction and interference Interference Diffraction Refraction at a plane surface Waves and vibrations Measuring waves Wave properties 1 Wave properties 2 Stationary and progressive waves More about stationary waves on strings Using an oscilloscope Refraction of light More about refraction Total internal reflection Double slit interference More about interference Diffraction The diffraction grating |
| Summer |
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Constituents of the atom Stable and unstable nuclei Particles anti particles and photons Particle interactions Classification of particles Quarks and anti-quarks The photoelectric effect Collisions of electrons with atoms Energy levels and photon emission Wave particle duality |
Year 13
| Autumn |
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Circular motion SHM Simple harmonic systems Forced vibrations and resonance Gravitational fields Newton’s law Gravitational field strength Gravitational potential Orbits of planets and satellites Electric fields Coulomb’s law Electric field strength Electric potential Capacitance Parallel plate capacitor Energy stored by a capacitor Capacitor charge and discharge |
| Spring |
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Thermal physics Thermal energy transfer Ideal gases Molecular kinetic theory model Magnetic fields Magnetic flux density Moving charges in a magnetic field Magnetic flux and flux linkage Electromagnetic induction Alternating currents The operation of a transformer Radioactivity Rutherford scattering α, β and γ radiation Radioactive decay Nuclear instability Nuclear radius Mass and energy Induced fission Safety aspects Turning points in physics The discovery of the electron Principle of Milikan’s determination of the electronic charge, e Wave-particle duality Newton’s corpuscular theory of light Significance of Young’s double slits |
| Summer |
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| External exams |