Key stage 3 Science
At key stage 3, we use complete mastery. This is an evidence-informed course to teach Science through a 5-year curriculum. The focus of the delivery is mastery of students’ understanding of concepts and thus improving their outcomes in the difficult parts of GCSE: specifically, the application of scientific knowledge and understanding and the analysis of data.
There are 25x key concepts and enquiry skills to cover in year 7.
There are 21x key concepts and enquiry skills to cover in year 8.
For each key concept, we use a 5-stage strategy for achieving mastery – the 5As.
Activate
- Pre-assessments to check prior concept understanding
Acquire
- Explorations to build concepts by explaining phenomena
Apply
- Extensive problem-solving
- Diagnostic quizzes to identify weak understanding
Analyse
- Challenges to use higher-order thinking
Plus there’s a summative assessment:
- Test Exam-style quiz to measure progress in acquire, apply and analyse.