At Wyvern Academy, our main aim is for students to engage with the world around them.  Whilst it is important that students “know more than they did when they walked in the classroom” it is equally important that students understand the how and the why of the science in their everyday lives.  This will provide them with the skills to analyse and question what they see around them from why their milk tastes sour when it goes off to their own experiences of changes happening in their own bodies over the course of adolescence. With this they will then be able to apply what they already know to things that they don’t and hopefully become scientists that can think for themselves and synthesise their own ideas and explanations for what they see around them

A key part of the science curriculum is around the big scientific questions that face society.  Students will debate and discuss the social, ethical, economic and even spiritual issues surrounding a variety of ideas such as cloning, genetic engineering, the use of finite natural resources and stem cell research to name a few.  This will then lead on into students developing a sense of responsibility for the world around them.  Students will discuss the importance of recycling, minimising energy consumption and even the impact of the lifecycle of everyday products such as their TV or mobile phone.

The science curriculum facilitates effective transition to further qualifications in the subject by building a strong foundation of fundamental ideas that will form the basis of work done in a range of post-16 science qualifications.  The curriculum is also designed to ensure that students are more confident in their use of technical vocabulary through explicit teaching of demanding tier 3 vocabulary.  Numeracy plays a heavy part in the science curriculum, and this is embedded throughout including the use of equations, converting between units, size and scale and graph skills to name a few.  The science curriculum is designed to consider the numeracy skills at key points throughout the curriculum to ensure that appropriate intervention can be given so that all students can succeed regardless of the level of numeracy they are working at.

Knowledge and skills:

Through our curriculum, students:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific techniques and procedures.
• Apply knowledge and understanding of: scientific ideas; scientific enquiry, techniques and procedures.
• Analyse information and ideas to: interpret and evaluate; make judgments and draw conclusions; develop and improve experimental procedures.

Our key aims are for our students to:

• Develop an awe and wonder of science
• Develop a confident recall of scientific knowledge and an ability to apply scientific concepts
• Develop the ability to question the credibility of reported science
• Develop confident and independent scientists through individual and collaborative work
• Have informed and ethical opinions about the big scientific questions facing society
• Develop a sense of responsibility for our planet and the knowledge to be able to best care for it
• Develop a curiosity for what else we can learn about the world through science
• Develop transferable and employability skills