Science

• Teaching and Learning

In our lessons we chunk, model and scaffold in order to make them accessible to all pupils. Our approach to teaching and learning supports our curriculum by ensuring that lessons build on prior learning and provide sufficient opportunity for independent practice. Our lessons typically follow a simple instructional core which we call “teach/check/practice”:

• Teach: Explanation and modelling
• Check: Check for understanding
• Practice: Independent practice

During the ‘check’ phase, mini whiteboards are used multiple times, allowing for quick checks of understanding. The ‘practice’ phase of the lesson is especially important, as this is where the pupils are required to ‘struggle’ and produce work that is the product of their own thinking.

Feedback is a key part of our lessons, as this allows pupils to appreciate how to improve their work and deepen their understanding of science. Live feedback takes place at various points in our lessons, and whole class feedback is given once a fortnight for Years 7-9 and once a week for Years 10 and 11.

• Assessment

In our lessons, we assess the pupils’ understanding using various methods:

• Do Now tasks
• Pause points
• Formative assessments – mid year and end of year

All of our lessons start with a Do Now task. These assess the prior learning of the pupils and can give the teacher a quick indication of any reteach that may be necessary.

At the end of every topic, or sometimes at the midway point of a particularly large topic, the pupils are given a ‘pause point’. The aim of the task is to call upon their revision and retention of the content that has been covered previously.

Finally, the pupils have formative assessments in the form of mid-year and end of year assessments. Here pupils are required to revise multiple topics. The aim of these assessments is two-fold; firstly, we aim to prepare pupils for their final exams in Year 11, and secondly, we hope to instil a solid work ethic that the pupils will hopefully carry forward with them in their future endeavours.