Windsor gained Science Specialist status in 2006 and the school continuously strives to develop its science ethos and the science
curriculum in order to inspire and motivate our students. The Science curriculum impacts on all students at the school, with teaching
delivered in eleven specialist labs of which eight are new or newly refurbished. Our flexible curriculum allows all students at the
school the opportunity to follow different routes through Key Stage 4, with courses in BTEC (certificate/diploma), Core Science
(studied in year 10), Additional Science and Triple Science (where students gain separate GCSEs in Physics, Chemistry, Biology).
By studying the course most suitable for them, all Windsor pupils can develop the skills needed to be active citizens within
an increasingly scientific world. They can then progress into employment, further training and higher education according to their
individual abilities, aptitudes and ambitions. It is our aim that more pupils will decide to pursue post 16 science courses,
thereby contributing to the national need for a workforce with more scientific and technical skills.
We run a variety of educational visits each year to enhance the curriculum, including taking all our year 7 pupils to the Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust reserve at Slimbridge in order to study habitats and feeding adaptations in birds. All year 9 pupils visit the
National Space Centre in Leicester to learn about Space exploration, the solar system, galaxies and gravity. We also take smaller
groups of pupils on more local visits to the ‘Think Tank’ science museum in Birmingham, the Black Country Museum, The Clent Hills,
the Natural History Museum and Alton Towers. To help with our vocational GCSE courses we invite visiting speakers into Windsor and
these have included staff from the forensic science service, experts in plastics and a ‘Researcher in residence’ who helped with
a large number of Key stage 4 groups, explaining her work in the field of genetics.
Pupils have also made visits to local scientific and technical industries for example Sandvik, in order to help with their
coursework. We also encourage participation in other science activities, including entering competitions such as the Salters
Chemistry Festival and the Institute of Physics poster competition (West Midlands) which our year 9 pupils have won in three of the
last four years. Each year about 25 year 8 pupils gain Bronze CREST awards (CREativity in Science and Technology) and they move on
to take the silver awards the following year. These awards are assessed by British Association for the Advancement of Science and
are challenging motivational and help to develop problem solving and communication skills as well as practical and thinking skills.
We enjoy celebrating the national ‘Science Week’ in March each year, offering a range of activities to the whole school. Our
year 8 pupils have a whole day of science activities during their Spring term Alternative Curriculum Day. They construct and test
bridges, carry out forensic science investigations and discover more about how our senses and how our brains work.
The faculty has set up an international link with a school in India, with pupils exchanging project work relating to alternative
energies. We also work with several local primary schools on ‘Project Galileo’ where the pupils visit us to investigate healthy
eating, digestion, circulation and other body systems.
Our after school science club has developed into a STEM club (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Twenty Year
7 and 8 pupils meet weekly after school helped by four ‘science leaders’. The club are taking part in a wide range of activities,
including designing their own website www.windsorstem.co.uk and investigating non-Newtonian fluids, (culminating with the entry
of members of the group into a Faraday competition). Other areas explored within the club are building and using robots, using a
range of equipment, including LEGO’s NXT robotics kits, Space, how to make accurate and precise investigations with telescopes
and designing and making Rockets. The club meet on a weekly basis, and work in small groups on their projects. The science leaders
that aid in running the club are key to this, and their knowledge and experience are invaluable in aiding the younger students.
Having a science specialism helps us to develop a rich repertoire of teaching and learning strategies, offer a wide curriculum
to engage different sorts of learners and create a challenging environment which raises standards of achievement in science for
all our students and as a result contributes to whole school improvement in performance.