Science
The science department at Our Lady's is a well-established, stable and successful department. There are seven teaching staff in the department and two technicians.
The department has five laboratories and one lecture room with a state of the art interactive whiteboard. There is also regular access to the school's IT rooms.
All students study science up to GCSE level. In years seven and eight they have two teachers, one for Biology and one for Physical Science. From year nine onwards, girls are taught by subject specialists for each of the three sciences.
In Key Stage Three (Years seven to nine) students follow the National Curriculum (link to www.standards.dfes.gov.uk) for Science using the Eureka Scheme of work published by Heinemann.
In year 9 all girls sit the SAT exam in science. In 2003 80% of the girls achieved a level 5 or above and 44% achieved a level 6 or 7, this is well above the National Average.
Science is a compulsory subject for GCSE, as it is a required subject for university entry. The girls study the double science GCSE from Edexcel (link to www.edexcel.org.uk). This means that they get two GCSE passes for science.
The Biology department
The Biology department has two specialist teachers. Ms Widmanska and Mrs Simpson. Both teachers have been at the school for many years. The department organises regular trips to Kew Gardens, the National History Museum and London Zoo.
The department offers A level with a pass rate of 100%. Students who study A level Biology have gone on to study many subjects at University, including medicine, genetics, biology, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary science and zoology.
The Chemistry department
The Chemistry department has three specialist teachers. Mr Williams, Ms Bowman and Mr Van der Puye.
The department offers A level with a pass rate of 100%. Students studying Chemistry A level have gone to follow degrees such as chemistry, pharmacy and medicine
The Physics department
The Physics department has two specialist teachers Dr Paun, who is also head of the science department and Dr Hodd.
The department offers A level with a pass rate of 100%. Students who study A level Physics go on to study degrees such as Physics, Astronomy, Accountancy, Computing and medicine.
Resources
Parents wishing to support their daughter for revision may wish to purchase copies of the CGP revision guides and work books available in WHSmiths and most book shops.
The BBC also has an excellent revision site called BBC Bitesize: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/
(More web sites to follow) |