Why study Science?
The study of science enables you to make informed choices and decisions about a wide range of issues that will have an impact on your life from IVF treatments, to cloning, to whether we should release nano-scale robots into human bodies to fight illness.
Science is a compulsory subject. Some students will study Triple Science, resulting in a GCSE in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, but most of the year group will follow a Combined Science course leading to two GCSEs. The decision about which course you take will be made by your Science teachers to ensure that you stand the best chance of succeeding and achieving highly in Science. You can successfully go onto study A-level Science from either Combined or Triple Science.
What will I study?
You will study a wide range of content across the whole spectrum of the sciences.
The aims of the course are:
- To learn how science affects our everyday life and how to evaluate scientific information and evidence presented by, for example, the media.
- To learn how ideas can be explained using science, and how theories are developed.
- To develop your ability to explain things in a scientific way and communicate your ideas to others.
- To develop the skills you need to carry out practical work safely and accurately.
- To prepare you for further studies and careers which need a Science background.
How will I study?
Your lessons will be a variety of practical tasks, discussion based lessons and written work. We aim to ensure that there are a range of activities in every lesson and our primary objective is to enable you to learn and reach your full potential.
How will my work be assessed?
You will be assessed at the end of Year 11. You will sit six papers, two Biology, two Chemistry and two Physics for both Combined Science or Triple Science. The Combined Science papers are 1 hour 15 minutes long, whereas the Triple papers are 1 hour 45 minutes long as they test more content.
There is no coursework or controlled assessment in Science. The grades available depend on the tier studied:
- For Higher, grades 4-9 are available
- For Foundation, grades 1-5 are available
Please see Mr Boddaert for more information.