Science is associated with everything we see, smell, hear, taste and use in today’s world. At Montgomery Academy, we encourage students to develop their interest and enthusiasm for science through investigative analysis, modelling and collaborative problem solving. From Year 7 onwards, we aim to embed and sequentially strengthen scientific skills, scientific literacy and both substantive and disciplinary knowledge. This enables our students to describe and explain what they observe experimentally and then apply what they have learnt to unfamiliar contexts and real-life scenarios.
All students study science at Montgomery and when students join us in Year 7, they begin an exciting 5-year learning journey that covers in full the National Curriculum. Our Key Stage 3 curriculum covers Year 7, 8 and 9 and consists of 15 topics underpinned by four fundamental units that link to all others that follow. These are cells and reproduction, particles, energy and separation techniques, which itself includes acids and alkalis, the earth and our atmosphere. Currently, our Year 11 cohort is split into separate science and combined science cohorts, but all students have the opportunity to study the separate science pathway at Key Stage 4 to enhance breadth and depth of the science curriculum. This approach is designed to enhance curiosity and this enables students to search for meaning in natural and physical phenomena with a critical, creative but evidence-based mindset.
Within each science lesson at Montgomery, students will be tasked with answering a challenge question that underpins the entire lesson. They will initially complete a retrieval entry task designed to improve their long-term memory of key knowledge and skills. Lessons where appropriate will involve a group based practical investigation which allows students to work with others, build team work and communication skills and make informed judgements from the results they generate. We aim to model examples and check for student understanding in every lesson as we believe this builds student confidence and motivation to succeed. It also allows us as a team to be responsive and address misconceptions as and when they happen.
Alongside the science curriculum at Montgomery, lies a plethora of extracurricular activities. As well as popular science club which is open to all year groups, we also run a space club, a dissection club and an award-winning STEAM club. This important science enrichment serves to motivate, inspire and enthuse our students. It supplements our academic curriculum and allows students to appreciate that science can change lives for the better in terms of the environment, medicine, technology, business and commerce. Making science more accessible and linking it to careers in the real world is how we believe we will develop and encourage the scientists of the future.
To take a virtual tour of the science department at Montgomery, please watch the following video:
Science Curriculum Overview