The teaching of Science places great emphasis on preparing and developing our learners for their Science careers ahead. We believe it is  important to develop their scientific skills, their curiosity in our fantastic subject as well as the theoretical content. We centre lessons on experimentation, observation and deduction, as it is generally accepted that learning by experience, provides experimental results which, in turn, leads to first-hand knowledge.

Although Science is taught in primary schools, few of the students have laboratory experience when commencing at Hilbre. Students are introduced to experimental methods, which form the basis of their work in Years 7 and 8; we build on each student’s earlier school experiences to extend the breadth and depth of their knowledge, develop their understanding and improve their skills.

The teaching groups in Years 7 are in forms and in year 8 are setted based on ability. However, they are dynamic and a learner can change groups that are more suited to them. Students have 6, 1 hour long lessons of science per fortnight, and where possible, all of these lessons are taught by one teacher, as we believe continuity is essential in this early stage of secondary school life.  The Key Stage 3 programme is condensed to just over two years to allow an early start to Key Stage 4 in Year 9.

In Year 9, all students start the Key Stage 4 Programme of Study. All students will follow the AQA Separates Course. Year 9 students are set into ability groups and additional groups have allowed the student to teacher ratio to be reduced. They have 9 lessons of Science per fortnight, 3 in Biology, 3 in Chemistry and 3 in Physics, each taught by a subject specialist.

In Year 10, those who opt to study the Trilogy course have 9 lessons per fortnight, 3 in each subject. Those studying the Separate Science course have 15 Science lessons a fortnight, 5 per subject. By the end of the year students will have covered, most if not all of the Paper 1 topics and will sit a paper 1 mock.

This model continues into Year 11, with Trilogy students having 9 lessons per fortnight and Separates having 15.

In Years 12 and 13 we offer A Level Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology. We also offer Level 3 BTEC courses which have, over recent years, been very successful. The courses on offer are Level 3 BTEC Applied Science and Level 3 BTEC Animal Management.  For students studying the foundation year, a level 2 Animal care (city and guilds) course is available.

Useful revision

GCSE Revision Help: https://learndojo.org/gcse/

A-level Revision Help: https://learndojo.org/a-level/