Curriculum Leader:

Ms Vickers

a.vickers@sydenham.lewisham.sch.uk

Teachers:

Technicians:

Robert Hiscocks
Neeta Shah
Nicole Helms

KS3, KS4 and KS5

The importance of Science to our students and how it impacts the world around us is emphasised from the beginning of Key Stage 3, and students can understand the purpose and significance of learning about the subject. Our Science curriculum enables students to use their knowledge and skills to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that explain the world around us. All three disciplines are interlinked and taught to enable students to develop their knowledge of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. In line with the school intent, students develop a sense of their responsibilities and possible actions they should carry out as they learn of the important issues that we face as a society.

Students can link their learning from across the curriculum and feel empowered to learn new, unfamiliar material, solve problems and hypothesise. The science curriculum offers students the chance to become independent and well considered learners building their confidence in vocabulary and numeracy skills which they can independently apply to explain observations and interpret data from contextual situations.

The curriculum is well planned, and lessons are sequenced to build on prior learning. Lessons are taught with enthusiasm by teachers who delve into a deeper understanding of the material to meet the national curriculum and beyond. We have high standards and expect to be ready to learn and work with perseverance. When explaining new concepts, we use modelling and collaborative learning opportunities. And our well-resourced department leans on the expertise of our Technicians to deliver engaging practical work that aid in explaining concepts. The school has a renewed focus in the completion of practice tasks in lessons and as such, we use multiple opportunities for students to carry out deliberate and retrieval practice in every lesson. Students are encouraged to ask questions and postulate ideas and explanations of theory while developing their investigative and problem-solving skills.