Students will either follow Science Trilogy or Separate Sciences. For details of the topics taught in KS4, please refer to our curriculum plans.
Science Trilogy:
Students will follow AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy. This course covers Biology, Chemistry and Physics and is a double award: equivalent to two GCSEs.
There is no coursework component for this course. There are six exam papers, which students will sit during the summer term of Year 11. There are two biology, two chemistry and two physics papers. Each of the papers will assess knowledge and understanding from distinct topic areas. Each exam is 1 hour 15 minutes, has a maximum of 70 marks and represents 16.7% of the total GCSE. Questions will be a mixture of multiple choice, structured closed short answer and open response.
Biology paper 1 will assess from Biology topics 1-4: Cell Biology, Organisation; Infection and response; and Bioenergetics.
Biology paper 2 will assess from Biology topics 5-7: Homeostasis and response, Inheritance, variation and evolution; and Ecology.
Chemistry paper 1 will assess from Chemistry topics 8-12: Atomic structure and the periodic table; Bonding, structure and the properties of matter; Quantitative Chemistry; Chemical changes; and Energy changes.
Chemistry paper 2 will assess from Chemistry topics 13-17: The rate and extent of chemical change; Organic chemistry; Chemical analysis; Chemistry of the atmosphere; and Using resources.
Physics paper 1 will assess from Physics topics 18-21: Energy; Electricity; Particle model of matter; and Atomic structure.
Physics paper 2 will assess from Physics topics 22-24: Forces; Waves; and Magnetism and electromagnetism.
Separate Sciences:
There is no coursework component for this course. There are two exam papers for each subject, which students will sit during the summer term of Year 11. Each of the papers will assess knowledge and understanding from distinct topic areas. Each exam is 1 hour 45 minutes, has a maximum of 100 marks and represents 50% of the total GCSE in that subject. Questions will be a mixture of multiple choice, structured closed short answer and open response.
Biology
Students will follow AQA GCSE Biology. The course is worth one GCSE.
Biology paper 1 will assess from Biology topics 1-4: Cell biology; Organisation; Infection and response; and Bioenergetics.
Biology Paper 2 will assess from Biology topics 5-7: Homeostasis and response; inheritance; variation and evolution; and Ecology.
Chemistry:
Students will follow AQA GCSE Chemistry. The course is worth one GCSE.
Chemistry paper 1 will assess from Chemistry topics 1-5: Bonding, structure and the properties of matter; Quantitative chemistry; Chemical changes; and Energy changes.
Chemistry paper 2 will assess from Chemistry topics 6-10: The rate and extent of chemical change; Organic chemistry; Chemical analysis; Chemistry of the atmosphere; and Using resources.
Physics:
Students will follow AQA GCSE Physics. The course is worth one GCSE.
Physics paper 1 will assess from Physics topics 1-4: Energy; Electricity; Particle model of matter; and Atomic structure.
Physics paper 2 will assess from Physics topics 5-8: Forces; Waves; Magnetism and electromagnetism; and Space physics.
Questions in paper 2 may draw on an understanding of energy changes and transfers due to heating, mechanical and electrical work and the concept of energy conservation from Energy and Electricity.
Resources
Each year 11 student will be provided with an exam practise book that will be used for homework and in school for class work, revision and intervention. As this book is fully subsidised if it is lost then a new one will need to be purchased at a cost of £5.50.
All students will receive log-in details for a website called Century (see website section)