Notre Dame Catholic College
and Sixth Form

Science knows no country because knowledge belongs to humanity and is the torch which illuminates the world.”

– Louis Pasteur

Science

Our science curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential scientific knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces students to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human endeavour, creativity and achievement.

Mr O Crispin

Mr O Crispin

Director of Science

Our science curriculum is carefully designed and delivered to ensure all students:

 

  • develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
  • develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
  • are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

 

Year 7, 8 and 9 Curriculum Content

The framework for the Key Stage 3 science curriculum is shaped by the sequence of knowledge and concepts outlined in the national curriculum. Units in Years 7 and 8 have been organized into carefully crafted trios that build on each other regardless of the sequence within which they are covered. Year 9 provides a final opportunity for students to consolidate big ideas from Years 7 and 8 and reapply them into new and more sophisticated contexts.

Year 7Unit/Topic
Autumn HT1Unit 1: Safety and skills required for the working practically in science
Autumn HT1Unit 2: How energy is stored and transferred
Autumn HT2Unit 3: Understand how the world is made up of matter
Autumn HT2Unit 4: Cell structure and function of living organisms
Spring HT1Unit 5: The fundamentals of force and motion
Spring HT1Unit 6: Atoms and how they react around us
Spring HT1Unit 7: How the body is organized and how cells become specialized
Spring HT2Unit 8: Properties of elements in the periodic table
Spring HT2Unit 9: How substances are transported throughout the body
Summer HT1Unit 10: Understand uses of acids and alkalis in real life applications
Summer HT1Unit 11: Understand changes that occur in the body and how we create human life
Summer HT2Unit 12: How forces act on the planets within the solar system and how we get seasons and day/night

View the full Year 7 Curriculum Map

Year 8Unit/Topic
Autumn HT1Unit 1: Understand the safety and skills required for working practically in science
Autumn HT2Unit 3: How chemical reactions between elements in the periodic table are carried out in everyday life
Autumn HT1Unit 2: The principles of electricity
Autumn HT2Unit 4: How the skeletal system and muscles work together to help protect organs and allow use to move
Spring HT2Unit 5: How magnetic forces can induce an electrical current
Spring HT1Unit 6: How substances that exist in nature can be pure/impure and how we can separate out components of a mixture
Spring HT2Unit 7: The process of gas exchange
Spring HT2Unit 8: How the body digests food to obtain nutrients
Summer HT1Unit 9: How energy travels as waves and how waves are used to produce sound
Summer HT1Unit 10: How energy travels as waves and how waves are used to produce light
Summer HT2Unit 11: The importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle

View the full Year 8 Curriculum Map

Year 9Unit/Topic
Autumn HT1Unit 1: The early atmosphere and how the earth has changed over time
Autumn HT1Unit 2: The process of weathering and how rocks can change their formation through the rock cycle
Autumn HT2Unit 3: How speed is measured and how this affects motion
Autumn HT2Unit 4: How the reactivity series was formed and be used to predict metal reactions
Autumn HT2Unit 5: The structure of DNA and how we inherit our characteristics
Spring HT1Unit 6: The theory of evolution through natural selection
Spring HT1Unit 7: How species are independent and interact within an environment
Spring HT1Unit 8: The process of energetics and how it relates to animals and plants
Spring HT2Unit 9: Understand the energy changes in a system before and after such changes.
Spring HT2Unit 10: Understand the Atomic structure and the periodic table
Summer HT1Unit 11: Understand how structural differences between types of cells enables them to perform specific functions within the organism
Summer HT2Unit 11: Understand how structural differences between types of cells enables them to perform specific functions within the organism

View the full Year 9 Curriculum Map

Year 10 and 11 Curriculum Content

At Key Stage 4, students follow the AQA science programme of study. The order in which we cover the content of these specifications is listed below. All students are examined in all courses at the end of Year 11 and so revision throughout the two-year course is essential to a student’s success.

Trilogy

Biology Year 10

Chemistry Year 10

Physics Year 10

Biology Year 11

Chemistry Year 11

Physics Year 11

Seperate Sciences

Biology Year 10

Chemistry Year 10

Physics Year 10

Biology Year 11

Chemistry Year 11

Physics Year 11

Sixth Form Curriculum Content

Curriculum Map Year 12 BTEC

Curriculum Map Year 12 Physics

Curriculum Map Year 12 Chemistry

Curriculum Map Year 13 Chemistry

Curriculum Map Year 12 Biology

Curriculum Map Year 13 Biology

Key Stage 4 science students follow the AQA GCSE science specifications. For further details, please follow the link below.

Download Full GCSE Trilogy Specification here

Download Full GCSE Biology Specification here

Download Full GCSE Chemistry Specification here

Download Full GCSE Physics Specification here

Key Stage 5 science students follow the AQA A Level Chemistry, AQA A Level Physics or or BTEC Level 3 Applied Science specification. For further details, please follow the link below.

Download Full A Level Chemistry Specification here

Download Full A Level Physics Specification here

Download Full BTEC Level 3 Applied Science Specification here

 

Please click on the logos below to visit Science-specific materials and resources.

  • BBC Bitesize KS3: 
  • BBC Bitesize KS4:
  • Oak National Academy:

 

Please click on the First Careers logo to visit their website.

A Student’s View

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Oliver
Former Notre Dame student, went on to study English Literature at University of Cambridge