Progress – Pupils generally make good progress in science.
The aim is for 2/3 of a level per academic year but this is often exceeded.
Livestock – depending upon the success of the sheep, we might look towards bringing in cattle/pigs/horses/donkeys.
Install a poly Tunnel – This would greatly increase our opportunities to work in the outside classroom, even in inclement weather
We have the use of an extensive outside classroom.
To include:- Pond Dipping - Habitats - Woodland Walks
Bug Hunts
Seed Growing
We have an on-going programme of planting that allows us to produce our own crops as well as maintain and develop planting around the site to improve its appearance.
Raised beds for growing vegetables
These were built by the pupils and will be used to grow vegetables that will then be used in the Food technology department.
Future Developments.
The department is continually moving forward and adapting to ever changing circumstances but here are a few of the ideas that foremost in our minds at present:-
Wodland Trail – Develop a woodland trail(Perhaps in conjunction with the Art Dept’s development
of a statue trail) which will label names of plants/trees and point out other items of interest.
Enrichment Activities
There will be 3 school educational visits per year. These will be:- Year 7 – Thinktank, Birmingham
Year 8 – National Space centre, Leicester
Year 9 – Natural History Museum, London.
These will involve the whole year group and form part of the curriculum
Engendering interest in Science for the pupils is paramount. To this end we are developing the following activities. Rocketeers – With help from the Cadbury Trust, we offer a club on a Friday for those pupils interested. They build and launch solid fuel rockets. This is a very popular club and it is having a positive effect on pupils behaviour during lessons.
Butterfly Walk – Part of the grounds development to educate the pupils in the recognition of plants and butterflies and their interconnected importance
Tree planting – We, as a school are committed to planting trees throughout our grounds to ensure the site is maintained as it was intended. To this end we have a `tree nursery`
Re-cycling
Composting – Pupils are
taught the importance and uses of composting. This is then used in our planting programme
Our latest addition are the sheep. We are working in conjunction with a local farmer and `lease` the sheep from him to give the pupils hands on experience with livestock.
Although a relatively new dimension to our department, this is an area that is growing rapidly. We have split the teaching time in year 7 and 8 to include a discrete time in those year groups for the delivery of the rural dimension.The developments that have been implemented in this area, With assistance from a grant from the Cadbury Trust are:- The first thing that was introduced were the chickens. These are now second generation. We have two chicken runs now and hope to introduce ducks in the near future. The eggs that are produced are either used in the Food Technology Department r sold to staff to raise funds.
1 Small topic areas followed by immediate tests.
2 Assessed practical work that is part of the final award
3 Opportunity to boost level of achievement by `can do` tasks
4 Ability to record progress so that pupils can see how they are
doing and be given interim awards to maintain enthusiasm
Hunters Hill is following the OCR Science Plus 2 Certificate of Achievement.
This consists of the following areas:-
We have two purpose built Science Labs, equipped to the highest standards. We believe that the pupils enthusiasm and therefore interest and ultimately achievement can be engendered through hands on experiences.
