Science Faculty

The Science Faculty at Rossett School delivers an evolving curriculum designed to meet the individual needs of our students. With specialist teachers in all subject areas and eleven fully equipped laboratories, our aim is to give everyone the foundation in Science that is required in the modern workplace. For those that have the desire to take Science at 'A' level and beyond we will provide the best possible preparation through the provision of Biology, Chemistry and Physics as individual GCSEs over a 3 year course starting in September 2011.

Further details of the changes being made at each key stage are listed below:

Key Stage 3:

Under the leadership of our Key Stage 3 team our science course has been moved from a generic model to one tailored specifically to the needs of Rossett students. Whilst still being based on the QCA model the new scheme (rolled out already for current Year 7s) incorporates a wide variety of topics in Biology, Chemistry and Physics with a particular focus on practical work, investigative skills and group activities. The new scheme of work reflects the importance of Science in society with pupils gaining a greater insight into ‘How Science Works’ and applying this to everyday situations. The aim of Key Stage 3 science is to engage, challenge and inspire pupils while providing a solid foundation for GCSE and beyond.

Key Stage 4:

At Key Stage 4 we currently offer a variety of GCSEs from OCRs 21st Century Science. The options provided are as follows:

• Triple Award (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) - 3 GCSEs
• Core Science and then an Additional Science GCSE - 2 GCSEs
• Core Science and then an Additional Applied Science GCSE - 2 GCSEs

Proposed changes in the curriculum under the new government have caused us to re-evaluate this decision and for students starting Year 9 and Year 10 in September 2011 we have decided to change to the AQA examinations board. The main reason for this is that we feel AQA has maintained a greater focus on fundamental scientific principals in the individual sciences and as a result this will provide a better preparation for those students who want to take 'A' levels.

For those students who want to follow a traditional GCSE route but do not anticipate taking Science beyond GCSE we will still be offering a Core and Additional Science route. However we will no longer be offering the Additional Applied Science route replacing this with the Extended Certificate in Applied Science (a vocational qualification worth 2 GCSEs).

For those students starting in Year 9 and 10 in September 2011 we will also be offering the BTEC Diploma in Applied Science, a 100% coursework qualification worth 4 GCSE's ideal for those students who prefer a real world, practical based qualification focused on acquiring the scientific skills without sacrificing any of the essential subject theory.

Key Stage 5:

We offer AS/A2 in Biology, Chemistry and Physics for those students who have followed the individual sciences or dual award routes. We also offer the OCR AS/A2 Applied Science course for those students who prefer a more practical based approach to science which involves a mixture of internal and external assessments. This course is available to students who have followed the Applied Science or BTEC Diploma pathway.

Science Clubs and Trips

Currently a Science Club for Key Stage 3 is run every Monday night and a wide variety of coursework catch up and revision sessions are run during the week for Key Stage 4 and 5. We also run numerous science trips, aiming to offer something to every year group during the year.