STYLE OF ASSESSMENT

100% via six written examinations at the end of the course in Year 11.

OVERVIEW OF COURSE:

Students study equal amounts of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Throughout the course, students are taught a variety of techniques and skills to enable them to work scientifically. This includes carrying out a minimum of 21 required practicals that will be examined in the written examinations. There are two routes as follows:

Combined Science

The majority of students will follow this route.  They will study all three sciences and sit six exams of duration 1hr 15 min each, at the end of Year 11. The marks are then combined to give them TWO GCSEs in Combined Science.

GCSE Separate Sciences (often referred to as Triple Sciences)

Students in the top set on the Huish side and top set on the Episcopi side will work at a faster pace to cover more content.  They will sit six exams of duration 1hr 45 min, at the end of Year 11. They will obtain a SEPARATE GCSE grade for each of the sciences, i.e. THREE GCSE grades. Students will not start to accelerate with the extra content until sets are finalised at the end  the autumn term of Year 10.

LEARNER REQUIREMENTS:

The ideal science student should be curious about how the natural world around them works. They will appreciate the relevance of science to their everyday lives. They should be willing to solve problems and be especially critical of “scientific” claims made in the media. Having good levels of literacy and numeracy is essential. Above all, they should be keen to both ask questions and search for answers.

FURTHER STUDY AND CAREER CONNECTIONS:

GCSE qualifications at all levels in Sciences are well respected by employers.  Both Science courses described above are suitably challenging to provide the basis for pupils wanting to study any of the Sciences at A level.