Science

'Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that's precise, predictive and reliable - a transformation, for those lucky enough to experience it, that is empowering and emotional.’  Brian Greene, theoretical physicist.

The vision of the science department is to encourage pupils to ask the questions ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’, to develop a lifelong curiosity about our natural world and its laws, order and behaviour. We want pupils to be able to explore the links between the science of yesterday and the technology of today and recognise how their lives are grounded on a bedrock of scientific investigation and understanding. We aim to prepare pupils to be able to think ethically about difficult scientific issues and to understand the value to society of investing in scientific research in a variety of areas to expand our knowledge. We want them to be able to discern scientific fact from fiction (in a world of fake news) and make informed judgements about how we should behave as responsible citizens on a global stage.

Science is taught within the three subjects: Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and students will study topics from all of these through to the end of year 11.

Keystage 3 - years 7 & 8

We study a variety of topics across the three subject areas, each about ten lessons in length. The aim is to introduce pupils to both the skills and knowledge required to investigate and understand the big scientific ideas in the world around us. In a variety of contexts we take pupils through the stages of the scientific process: hypothesising, planning, investigating, recording, concluding and evaluating in order that they begin to understand the rigour and demands of claiming scientific proof. 
 

The topics covered are:

	Big Idea	Yr 7	Yr 8
Physics	Forces and their effects	Contact forces	Speed (and motion),  velocity and time
	Electricity and  magnetism	Current and voltage	Resistance and  electromagnets
	Waves	Wave effects	Light and sound
	Energy	Energy transfers	Work, energy and power
Chemistry	Matter	Particles and separation  techniques	Elements and the periodic    table
	Reactions	Acids and alkalis	Types of reaction
	Resources	Metals and Non-Metals	Organic chemistry
Biology	Organisms and their  habitats	Cells 1: Structure and  specialisation	Cells 2: Transport, microbes  and microscopy
	Bioenergetics	Bioenergetics: Breathing,  nutrition and cellular  respiration	Photosynthesis in plants
	Genes and inheritance	Reproduction and cell  division	Evolution and inheritance
	Science skills	Passport	Maths for science

All pupils in year 7 will take part in the Bloodhound ‘Race for the Line’ team competition to design and build a rocket car that they will race against the other pupils in the spring term. This will be a cross-curricular task involving science, technology, maths and IT.

Science club at KS3 runs at various times throughout the year after school and looks at a variety of science activities and experiments in greater depth.
Our Ecoclub runs (weather permitting) every week after school on a Thursday.

For more information about KS3 Science please contact: Peter Munroe    p.munroe@uckfield.college
 

Keystage 4 - years 9, 10 & 11

Our pupils start the KS4 Combined Science Trilogy GCSEs at the begnning of year 9. They all study the same science topics until they take up their options at the beginning of year 10 when some students will have chosen to follow the single (triple) science course. Again our aim is to develop in pupils the practical, numerical and analytical skills to assess the information given to them in order to draw sensible, logical and data driven conclusions.

The topics covered across the three years are:
 
Biology
Humans as organisms-  health, diet, exercise, nervous system, disease and control
Living processes -  respiration, reproduction, transport in cells, 
Variation, evolution, inheritance & genetics - cloning, mutation and natural selection
Ecosystems and habitats - food webs, interdependence and extinction 

Chemistry
Atoms & elements and the periodic table
Energy changes, rates and reversible reactions
Reactivity of elements and compounds
Chemistry of earth’s finite resources
Bonding & structure within compounds

Physics
Forces and motion - calculating velocity, acceleration, weight, power and momentum
Energy resources, use and conservation
How electricity behaves in circuits
Types of waves, their properties and uses

During the GCSE pupils will complete a number of required practical activities which will be examined at the end of year 11 as part of their final GCSE exams. Pupils may take part in brain awareness week, antweight robot challenge, science competitions and Olympiads, trips to Costa Rica, Malawi and NASA Houston as part of a range of exciting extra curricular activities.

Resources to support pupils in their GCSE studies can be found at our science googlesite.

For more information about KS4 Science please contact: Dr Bea Messenger    b.messenger@uckfield.college
 

Keystage 5 - years 12 & 13

Currently we offer A levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. These courses are a significant step up in academic demand from GCSE and take many of the same big ideas in science and study them in greater depth and breadth. Pupils find them challenging yet rewarding. 

We encourage pupils in year 12 to acts as science mentors for pupils in year 11 in order to support them. We find this is a very useful experience for year 12 pupils for reinforcing their own understanding.

For more information about KS5 Science please contact:

Biology:         Jamie Medley        j.medley@uckfield.college
Chemistry:     Andrew Ball          a.ball@uckfield.college
Physics:        Chris Brooks         c.brooks@uckfield.college

Any science questions or concerns can be directed to the Curriculum Leader of Science: Mike Ball              m.ball@uckfield.college