Staffing
The department consists of eleven teaching staff and 2.5 technicians.

Facilities
There are 11 purpose built science labs which have all have an electric, gas and water supply. They are all fully networked, with two of them having data projectors. There are two portable fume cupboards used mainly by the chemistry department. The department has a 10 PC computer suite which is also fully networked. There are two prep rooms, one used for Chemistry the other used by Biology and Physics. These rooms are used to store all equipment and prepare the resources required for lessons.
The department makes use of the new ‘Sir Tom Cowie’ ICT suite and one of Sunderland’s C.L.C’s which is on the school site.

Teaching Groups and Timetable Commitment

Year7
In Year 7 the pupils at Southmoor School are taught in mixed ability groups, there are eight teachers to eight form groups. Each year 7 pupil receives three one hour lessons per week from the same teacher, this corresponds to 12% of the total timetable. The detailed Schemes of Work outline the Departments requirements and ensure that the National Curriculum guidelines are followed. In all areas the schemes follow the QCA Scheme with the fine detail tailored to match the Core Science text books.

Year 8
Pupils are put into upper, middle or lower bands (including a SEN group) on the basis of marks achieved in attainment tests completed in Year 7 and are consequently taught at the appropriate level for their ability. The upper band is split into set 1 and set 2 to assist in achieving the higher levels. Each Year 8 pupil receives three one hour lessons per week, taught by one teacher, this corresponds to 12% of the total timetable. The detailed Schemes of Work outline the Departments requirements and ensure that the National Curriculum guidelines are followed. In Biology, Physics and Chemistry the QCA Scheme is followed – using Core Science as the standard text.

Year 9
Pupils are put into upper, middle or lower bands on the basis of marks achieved in attainment tests completed in Years 7 and 8 and are consequently taught at the appropriate level for their ability. The upper band is split into set 1 and set 2 to assist in achieving the higher levels. Each Year 9 pupil receives three one hour lessons per week, taught in specialist areas, this corresponds to 12% of the total timetable. The detailed Schemes of Work outline the Departments requirements and ensure that the National Curriculum guidelines are followed. In Biology, Physics and Chemistry the QCA Scheme is followed – using Core Science as the standard text.

Years 1O & 11
In years 10 and 11 all pupils study OCR Co-ordinated Science. There are three routes available; Double Award Staged Assessment (OCR), Single Award Staged Assessment (OCR) or Double Award Applied Science (OCR Vocational). The Double and Single Award pupils are grouped according to ability (including a SEN group), this is to allow the most academically able to progress to higher grades and to enable the less academic to be taught in smaller groups where more individual help can be given. Pupils are grouped on the basis of their KS3 assessments and National Curriculum results. The pupils may change groups throughout KS4 depending on assessments which take place at regular intervals. The Vocational course is offered to pupils with predicted borderline c/d at GCSE and those pupils whom the department feel would benefit from the higher degree of coursework.

Double Award pupils receive five / six, one hour lessons per week. When pupils move into year 11 those who received five lessons in year10 will receive six lessons and vice versa, this corresponds to 22% of the total timetable over the two years. They are taught a one hour lesson of Biology (AT2), a one hour lesson of Chemistry (AT3) and a one hour lesson of Physics per week. The remaining two lessons form a rota for Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Single Award pupils receive three one hour lessons, this corresponds to 12% of the total timetable, which is split into a one hour lesson for each of the three science areas.
A small group of pupils follow the OCR Double Award Applied Science (Vocational) which again receives six hours a week in year 10 and five lesson per week in year 11. The course involves a higher proportion of coursework (67%).

Coursework for science at KS4 is carried out during coursework weeks during year 10 where the syllabus is suspended and coursework is carried out throughout the week, each class remains with one teacher during the course of coursework week.
There are three coursework weeks throughout the year which means by the end of the year, each pupils has had the opportunity to produce three full investigations.
This work is assessed and further work carried out during year 11 as required.

Extra-Curricular Activities
Two members of the department are actively involved in developing the schools Conservation area. This area is used by the science department and others for a variety of activities, but the overall up keep of the area is monitored and carried out by the Wildlife club. The department is planning to develop a Chemistry club, which will provide enrichment for year 7 initially with help for some year 10 pupils.
A science video club is in its infancy, this will involve pupils from all years developing digital videos of experiments used by the department, these will then be edited in the CLC and used for modeling with in science lessons.
There are also visits for year 9 to the ‘Science Alive’ fair at Northumbria University.