Overview
Pupils in all Pathways enjoy and benefit from learning about science. Content is based on the national curriculum, with priority given to areas that are most important for our learners to understand or experience. The curriculum is continuously discussed, reviewed and developed by teachers at Pathway meetings throughout the year. In all Pathways we take every opportunity to make links to other subjects, real life applications and life skills.
Blue Pathway
Science in the Blue Pathway is not taught as a discrete lesson but forms part of ‘My Thinking’. Blue Pathway science is based on the skills of observation, engagement and enquiry. For some learners this may be achieved by simply encountering sensory activities with scientific themes threaded through them.
Examples include:
Green Pathway
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Green Pathway science is linked to the topic for the term. Learning takes place in the context of a familiar and engaging text. Learners work to develop the scientific skills of observation and enquiry. They are encouraged to predict what they think will happen and to record their findings.
Opportunities are provided for pupils to:
- observe different materials and how they can be changed
- observe different forces and how they effect objects
- observe different animals, their habitats and life cycles
- observe plants as they grow
- explore healthy and unhealthy food
- identify different body parts and to observe and measure bodies changing e.g. height, shoe size, weight
- explore and order the life cycle of animals and humans
Students are asked “what do you think will happen?” and encouraged to make predictions; they are also taught to record results and to use scientific vocabulary where appropriate.
Yellow Pathway
Science in the Yellow Pathway still focuses on the skills of observation, enquiry, prediction and recording but is taught explicitly via a rolling 3 year curriculum in KS3. The Yellow Pathway is closely modelled on the national curriculum - we have selected topics that we believe to be the most relevant and important to our learners, in order to instil a love for science, to understand more and to make links to science in their everyday lives.
KS3 Yellow Pathway Plan
Uppers Yellow Pathway Plan
In Yellow Pathway classes in the upper school, science is not taught as a discrete lesson. Instead, it takes forward prior learning from KS3 and forms a key part of the ASDAN Personal and Social Effectiveness qualification that students work towards in the ‘Science and Technology’ part of the ‘problem solving unit’. Topics covered are directly linked to preparing students for adulthood and include: how to use electrical appliances safely, basic property maintenance and upcycling items for use in the home. Please see below a section of a scheme of work that is followed in the upper school:
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Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
Week 8 |
Week 9 |
Week 10 |
Week 11 |
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Science and Technology |
PS/ST/A6 Compare the advantages and disadvantages of materials used in construction |
PS/ST/A7 Investigate the different uses of radioactivity |
PS/ST/B3 Use suitable equipment to measure air quality or the weather |
PS1/ST/C3 Growing or storing food |
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Code |
Overview |
Learning Opportunities |
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PS/ST/A6 |
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of materials used in construction |
Different building materials are used in different parts of the world. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of at least three different materials used in construction. Take environmental impact into consideration. |
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PS/ST/A7 |
Investigate the different uses of radioactivity |
Radioactive substances can cause great harm but radioactivity is very useful in a wide variety of areas, from history to medicine. Find out about the uses of radioactivity and record your findings. |
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PS/ST/B3 |
Use suitable equipment to measure air quality or the weather |
The Met Office is the UK’s national weather service. They use sophisticated equipment but you can study the weather and make predictions yourself. Make or assemble suitable equipment to measure air quality or the weather over a period of one week. Compare your findings with local meteorological data. |
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PS1/ST/C3 |
Growing or storing food |
Identify a problem with growing or storing food. For example, growing crops with little water, storing food without single-use plastics. Design at least two products to solve this problem and make a prototype of one of them. Evaluate the success of your product. |
Qualifications
Students do not work towards specific science qualifications but the scientific knowledge they have developed in KS3 and KS4 is essential as they work towards an ASDAN Personal and Social Effectiveness qualification (see above).
Impact
We know through conversations with learners, parents and carers, FE providers and visitors to the school that science has the following impact at Highfield:
- some learners are able to confidently have conversations with peers and with adults around scientific topics and they enjoy doing this
- students significantly develop their ability to engage with learning or with their surroundings
- pupils are better able to understand the world around them, which allows them to access it more independently as they become adults
- students develop an understanding of safety and responsibility, leading to greater independence
