Brighouse High School - A Leading Edge School With Specialism In Applied Learning

The Key stage 3 curriculum is based on the National Curriculum for Science. The department has adapted the QCA schemes of work to deliver this curriculum. Pupils have 3 science lessons per week. Pupils are placed into sets during year 7 and remain in sets during year 8 and 9. Pupils can move between sets during the key stage.

In years 7 and 8 sets have either 1 or 2 teachers, in year 9 they have 2 or 3 teachers.

Year 7

• Particles – States of matter, using the particle model to explain different states.
• Electrical Circuits – Electrical components, series and parallel circuits, resistance.
• Energy – Types of energy, converting energy from one form to another.
• Cells – How living organisms are made up, different types of cell, how new cells are made, plant fertilization.
• Solutions – Dissolving solids to make a solution, techniques of separating mixture
• Variation – How organisms differ from one another, causes of variation.
• Forces – Where we find forces and how we measure them, floating, weight, friction and speed, distance and time.
• Reproduction – How humans reproduce, changes during puberty, development of a baby.
• Acids – Where we find acids, how we can test for them, indicators and using acids to make new chemicals.
• Environment – Looking at different habitats and how life adapts, to live in them, feeding relationships.
• Chemical reactions – Using different types of reaction to make useful products, burning as a chemical reaction.
• Solar System – The cause of a year, a month and a day, how we see the Sun and the moon, seasons and what makes up the solar system.

Year 8

• Elements – What elements are, the periodic table, metals and non-metals.
• Compounds – How compounds are made, molecules and formulae.
• Light – How light travels, reflection and refraction and colour.
• Sound – How sounds are made, sound waves, sound traveling and how we hear.
• Magnetism – What magnets do, making magnets, magnetic fields and electromagnets.
• Speed – Forces involved in traveling, calculating speed.
• Ecological relationships – Classification of plants and animals, collecting data about a habitat, looking at how organisms in a habitat depend on each other.
• Rocks – Different types of rock and how they are formed in the rock cycle, weathering.
• Respiration – What respiration is, the role of the heart and lungs in respiration.
• Food and digestion – A balanced diet, how food is digested, enzymes and what happens to food after it has been digested.
• Heating and Cooling – Temperature, thermal conductors and insulators, changes when a substance is heated or cooled, heat transfer.

Year 9

• Metals – Properties of metals, reactions of metals and the reactivity series, using metals.
• Useful chemistry – Using chemical reactions to make new substances.
• Environmental chemistry – How using chemistry affects the environment, pollution and how to reduce it.
• Plants – Plants as a food source, photosynthesis, parts of a plant in photosynthesis, what affects plant’s growth.
• Fit and Healthy – How systems work together, the skeleton, how diet, smoking, exercise and drugs affect your health.
• Inheritance and selection – Which features can be inherited, genetic information, how new breeds are produced.
• Energy and Electricity – Transferring and transforming energy, electricity and energy, cost and production of electricity, wasting energy.
• Gravity and space – How gravity changes, development of our ideas about and understanding of the solar system.

Double award science is essential for those pupils who intend to study science to A- level standard. The course is a modular course, using AQA Double Award specification. Pupils sit 6 end of module tests in year 10. At the end of year 11 pupils sit two examination papers. Modules studied are:

Humans as Organisms, Maintenance of life, Metals, Earth materials, Energy, Electricity, Inheritance and Selection, Environment, Patterns of Chemical Change, Structures and Bonding, Forces, and Waves and Radiation. Pupils also have to produce course work that counts towards 20% of the GCSE.

The department uses OCR Pilot D for Single award science. This course provides pupils an opportunity to study science that will be relevant to them as adults even if they do not need it for their chosen career route. In both years 10 and 11 pupils sit 2 end of unit tests. At the end of year 11 there is 1 examination paper based on material sent to school. Pupils also have course work to do in the form of a practical investigation, can do tasks and an extended piece of writing on a science topic. Course work is 40% of the final grade.

From September 2006 brand new science courses were introduced across the country. All pupils in year 10 have to do some science at school. We use 21 st Century Science, a course developed by the OCR examination board.

All pupils do core science, this leads to 1 GCSE and covers aspects of biology, chemistry and physics. There are 9 modules with unit tests based on groups of three modules. Pupils also have internal assessment in the form of a Case Study and Data analysis. Internal assessment accounts for 33.3% of the GCSE grade.

Pupils can do more science by either taking additional science or additional applied science. Both of these lead to another GCSE in science. Additional science again is taught in modules. Internal assessment counts for 33.3% of the final grade and takes the form of a practical investigation.

Additional applied science looks at the application of scientific knowledge and skills and how they are used in everyday life. In particular fields such as forensic science and sports science are used.

The department runs a science club where pupils can enjoy doing scientific activities which may not be looked at during lesson time. We have also entered competitions within the local authority and regularly attend workshops at Leeds University. Whenever funds allow we organize trips to places of scientific interest.