Science

At LHAA, we are excited to teach science
to every student who joins us. We aim that by the end of their time at LHAA, we would have encouraged students to ask questions about the world around them and how it works and given them extensive knowledge and skills to understand this.  

At Key Stage 3, the principal focus of science teaching in key stage 3 is to develop a deeper understanding of a range of scientific ideas in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils should begin to see the connections between these subject areas and become aware of some of the big ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding. Examples of these big ideas are the links between structure and function in living organisms, the particulate model as the key to understanding the properties and interactions of matter in all its forms, and the resources and means of transfer of energy as key determinants of all of these interactions. They are encouraged to relate scientific explanations to phenomena in the world around them and start to use modelling and abstract ideas to develop and evaluate explanations.  

Pupils understand that science is about working objectively, modifying explanations to take account of new evidence and ideas and subjecting results to peer review. Pupils will decide on the appropriate type of scientific enquiry to undertake to answer their own questions and develop a deeper understanding of factors to be taken into account when collecting, recording and processing data. They will evaluate their results and identify further questions arising from them. Pupils will develop their use of scientific vocabulary, including the use of scientific nomenclature and units and mathematical representations. 

At Key Stage 4, teaching in the sciences continues with the process of building upon and deepening scientific knowledge and the understanding of ideas developed in earlier key stages in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.  

For some students, studying the sciences in key stage 4 provides the platform for more advanced studies, establishing the basis for a wide range of careers. For others, it will be their last formal study of subjects that provide the foundations for understanding the natural world and will enhance their lives in an increasingly technological society.  

Science is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all students will be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. They are helped to appreciate the achievements of science in showing how the complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a number of key ideas relating to the sciences which are inter-linked, and which are of universal application.  

Curricula at key stage 4 comprises approximately equal proportions of biology, chemistry and physics. The relevant mathematical skills required are covered in the programme of study for mathematics and are embedded in the science context.  

The scope and nature of their study is broad, coherent, practical and rigorous, so that students are inspired and challenged by the subject and its achievements.