What is our curriculum intent?

We believe that science has something to offer all students, whatever their aspirations. The Key Stage 4 National Curriculum requires all students to continue their study of biology, chemistry and physics and serves to provide an appropriate starting point for students who wish to use their science knowledge to pursue other interests or for students who wish to place science at the forefront of their education and consequently pursue science beyond GCSE.

The AQA suite of examinations aims to introduce students to fundamental ideas in scientific theory and help them develop investigative skills through practical participation.

At Wilmslow High School, we are able to provide students with the possibility of choosing from two routes through the science curriculum at Key Stage 4.

Route 1 – “Combined Science” - 2 GCSEs in Science

• This route is for the vast majority of students who do not wish to have individual science qualifications, although they will continue to study biology, chemistry and physics topics. This does not need to be selected as an optional subject choice, as it will automatically be allocated to all students who have not selected “Triple Science”.

Route 2 – “Triple Science” - 3 GCSEs in the three separate sciences – biology, chemistry and physics

• This route is for students who are particularly interested in the sciences and wish to have individual science qualifications. This will count as an optional subject choice (see page 46). The Science Team will guide students in making this choice.

N.B. YOU CAN STILL PURSUE A-LEVEL SCIENCE SUBJECTS WITH THE COMBINED SCIENCE ROUTE.

How do we implement our curriculum for Route 1 – “Combined Science” - GCSE

Although students who opt for this route will not have specialised in biology, chemistry and physics to the same depth as those studying the three separate sciences, they will have studied all three sciences and will remain well equipped to study science subjects at A-Level.

Combined Science is a linear GCSE course - all the external examinations take place in the summer term of Year 11.

The content of the GCSE Combined Science (double award) is a subset of the three separate sciences. Students who pursue this route will be taught by subject specialists with practical skills sessions incorporated into these subject specific lessons.

Science GCSEs contain challenging content in all examinations and so we guide our students in which science route will secure them the highest grades at GCSE. We base this decision on a wide range of assessment undertaken over the course of Year 9 and in the knowledge that universities will base their decisions on the quality of the grades gained rather than the particular science GCSE route. As a part of the course choice process, Miss C George will review each candidate’s chosen science route to ensure their suitability. As part of the process, they may interview some candidates to determine their suitability.

Please consider the main points highlighted below when reviewing the “combined science” route:

• Combined Science has a 17 point grading scale, from 9–9, 9–8 through to 2–1, 1–1.
• There is no controlled assessment as part of this qualification.
• There will be no assessment of written quality of communication.
• The minimum examination time for the combined science course will be 7 hours.
• 15% of GCSE marks will be for practical skills.
• 20% of the combined science marks will require maths skills

All students follow the full combined science course and the progress made over the two years determines the examination tier of entry in Year 11; either higher tier or foundation tier.

The next page contains extracts from the AQA GCSE combined science specification, which describes the course in greater detail.

What we teach when

Year 10

Year 11