Nower Hill School SCIENCE

Our Science Faculty at Nower Hill are very enthusiastic about Science teaching and work extremely well together to provide an exciting, challenging and relevant delivery of Science at all Key Stages.

Our teachers use practical work, challenging lessons, well prepared resources and contemporary issues to motivate and inspire pupils to achieve their potential and hopefully to continue to study science further.

We work together in a collaborative fashion to plan, regularly review and improve all aspects of the Science curriculum.

Example KS4 course -

GCSE ASTRONOMY

Course Description 2010-2012 - This is a very exciting course, now running as an extra-curricular activity over 2 years, for students in Years 10 and 11. This course is open to students achieving a Level 6 or 7 in their Year 8 assessments but has a limited number of places. The school subscribes to an online learning resource and runs supervised study sessions weekly and Saturday morning teaching sessions, three per term.

Students would be expected to commit to the course for the two years and would be entered alongside their other GCSEs in June 2012. This is an excellent opportunity to extend their knowledge and study a very contemporary aspect of Science. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their own learning and preparation for the exams although guidance and materials will be provided. Students will need to complete two pieces of coursework.

There will be some costs involved in this course, including a charge for the Saturday sessions. The students will be issued with two text books; GCSE Astronomy: A guide for pupils and teachers and Practice Calculations for GCSE Astronomy. They will return these at the end of the 2 years. They will be encouraged to subscribe to Astronomy Today magazine and to attend a trip to the Greenwich Observatory. Students will also have to pay for their GCSE Entry Fee.

Exam Board/Number

Edexcel 1627

Unit Content

1 Planet Earth

2 The Moon and the Sun

3 The Solar System

4 Stars and galaxies

5 Observing techniques and space exploration

Written paper 75% 2 hours

Coursework 25%

1. Draw a large chart of the Moon from references to photographic material, marking in and naming principal features and positions of Apollo and other notable lunar landing sites.

2. Observe and draw the Moon’s phases over a period of at least one lunar month, recording the dates, times, seeing and weather conditions, and rising and setting times.

Entry tier

Candidates for this qualification are entered for one tier of assessment which provides access to grades G – A*.