Courses - Key Stage 3 - Science

download pdf guideStudents should develop the intellectual and practical skills to allow them to explore the world of Science and to develop a fuller understanding of scientific phenomena, the nature of the theories explaining these, and the procedures of scientific investigation.  In Years 7, 8 and 9, students will continue to develop knowledge and understanding in the following areas, using core textbooks, worksheets and extra reference resources: 

Experimental and Investigative Science
  • use scientific knowledge and their own ideas to form investigations
  • select equipment and carry out experiments, isolating and changing variables
  • record evidence clearly and appropriately
  • interpret results and evaluate scientific evidence
Life Processes and Living Things
  • cells as the basis of living things, inheritance and evolution
  • humans as organisms - major systems and organs
  • green plants as organisms - nutrition, reproduction and respiration
  • classifications of species and reasons for variations within groups
  • habitats and how plants and animals adapt to them, populations and human influences with ecosystems
Materials and their Properties
  • differences between solids, liquids and gases
  • properties, classification and structure of materials
  • physical changes in different materials
  • chemical changes and reactions in different materials
  • geological changes caused by physical and chemical processes
  • reactions of metals, acids, and bases

Physical Processes
  • electricity and magnetism - charges, fields, circuits
  • energy resources and energy transfer
  • forces and linear motion, rotation and pressure
  • properties and behaviour of light in different conditions
  • properties and behaviour of sound and vibration
  • the solar system and the Earth’s place in it
  • energy resources and the conservation of energy