“Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge”

Carl Sagan

The Cape Cornwall School Curriculum ensures that all our students have the opportunity for academic and personal development across a broad range of subjects and experiences. It combines equality of opportunity to our core learning with opportunities for students to make individual choices regarding their learning experiences.  Acquisition of knowledge and transferable skills are the cornerstones of our student’s progress and we place a high value on building their understanding of community, place and social justice. Lessons and other learning experiences are sequenced to build on students’ prior knowledge, and to ensure that students deepen their understanding of each subject, and the interconnection between subjects and their global context.

Our Curriculum is the foundation to achieving our Core Principles:

• Students leave Cape Cornwall School with high value achievements and the life skills and resilience that provide a platform for future success and happiness.
• We are inspired to work together to research, design and implement highly effective and sustainable solutions to develop and maintain our thriving school community.
• Continuous improvement is achieved through a whole school culture of, and commitment to, creativity, engagement and professionalism.

Through the study of Science at Cape Cornwall School students will understand that Science provides an empirical way of answering important questions about the universe around us. Science is a dynamic, collaborative and creative human endeavour arising from our desire to make sense of our world by exploring the unknown, investigating universal mysteries, making predictions and solving problems. They will see that knowledge is contestable and is revised, refined and extended as new evidence arises.

Our five-year Science curriculum will assist students in developing the scientific knowledge and skills they need to understand local, national and global issues and be equipped for future Science learning or careers. Through their studies, students will be exposed to the wealth of science-linked careers and opportunities in the local area, hence supporting their pride in themselves and their community.

In addition to its practical applications, learning science is a valuable pursuit in its own right. Students will experience the joy of scientific discovery and nurture their natural curiosity about the world around them. In doing this, they will develop critical and creative thinking skills and challenge themselves to identify questions, apply new knowledge, explain science phenomena and draw evidence-based conclusions using scientific methods. The wider benefits of this scientific literacy are well established, including giving students the capability to investigate the world around them and the way it has and will change as a result of human activity.

In Science, our repeat concepts are:

Biology

1. Cells
2. Organisation
3. Reproduction and inheritance
4. Interdependence

Chemistry

1. Atoms
2. Chemical reactions
3. Periodic table
4. Earth science

Physics

1. Forces
2. Waves
3. Space
4. Electricity & magnetism
5. Energy