Y7-11 Curriculum Plan

In response to the changes GCSE , we developed Blueprint, a mastery curriculum framework for the 5 years of secondary science. GCSE is evolving to stay relevant in the rapid change of the 21st century. Instead of being largely a knowledge recall test there’s now 60% of the marks for transferable understanding (called AO2) and higher level thinking (AO3). Up to now, schools who basically delivered the content in the specification during KS4, did OK. But with the cognitive demands of GCSE increasing, a different strategy is called for – one that builds understanding of both content and scientific skills over the whole 5 years.

Blueprint is designed from first principles. It has unpacked the content in GCSE and built a progression of key concepts that lead towards the ‘big ideas’ that experts have, and integrated the skills. With this understanding students will become better at applying knowledge  (AO2) and analysing it (AO3). Grasping the concepts also makes it easier learn the details and facts that need to be memorised for exams. Blueprint takes the form of;

  • a curriculum plan, setting out the scope and sequence of units
  • teaching and assessment planners for Y7-11 units.
  • Objectives at three levels of depth corresponding to AO1, 2 and 3 at GCSE.

Why choose Blueprint?

Many schools have essentially separate KS3 and GCSE programmes, and often end up teaching material twice - once at KS3 and then re-teaching it at GCSE because students didn't understand it. Blueprint provides a coherent approach to the whole 5 years of secondary science. building cone understanding of both content and scientific skills over the whole 5 years.

Progression of concepts 

The 5-year curriculum map is a progression of key concepts (and skills) is based on research and state of the art international curricula such as NGSS (USA). The progression help students connections between ideas, in units and over time, whereas a 'content-based' scheme often produces disconnected knowledge

Alignment with GCSE demands

Blueprint goals/learning objectives are aligned with the challenging assessment objectives, AO2 and AO3. Many schemes are just an elaboration of the content in the syllabus and only prepare students well for AO1. Blueprint's 5A's learning pathway practises applying and analysing knowledge, right from year 7.

Blueprint can be used for any GCSE specification. It comes with specific references to the AQA’s Trilogy specification, and can be customised for other Awarding Bodies.

Coherent teaching and assessment 

Blueprint unit planners encourage teaching and assessment that is based on cognitive science; building on prior knowledge, giving students opportunity to grasp complex ideas, and mastery assessment

Benefits

  • A better preparation for the more demanding GCSE questions (AO2 and AO3)
  • Topics form a progression which removes repetition, freeing curriculum time
  • A system for embedding formative assessment and mastery learning
  • Skills are explicitly integrated into every stage, to reach fluency
  • Contexts and applications are integrated to increase engagement
  • Create coherent topics so that the lessons connect and build understanding
  • More opportunities to relate science to real world contexts

Blueprint resources

Blueprint Year 8 unit planners


FAQ

How does the difficulty change as you progress through each year? 

The Key Concepts progress in difficulty from year 7 to year 8. The curriculum map is a learning progression within each Big Idea. Later Key Concepts are more theoretical and more quantitative, and require students to integrate earlier ones. If you are using Proper Science, you can also control the difficulty level - how much of the scientific thinking we put into the course that you hand over to the students.

How can we schedule teaching throughout the 5 years?

The 5-year curriculum map shows the key concepts/units planned for each year. There are approx 22-23 per year, allowing 1-1.5 weeks for teaching each. Units vary in length depending on the number and complexity of concepts. The planner shows approx timings for each learning stage (5As).

In Y7 we recommend being flexible on unit timings to get the benefit of mastery. Ie if you take time to do all the lessons as intended more students will reach a high level of understanding, and this will enable them to grasp more complex concepts at GCSE. The formative assessments (Activate, Assess) will tell teachers whether students can progress or need more learning time.

What about students doing triple students?

Blueprint 5-year plan currently covers combined science only. It is fairly straightforward to adapt it for separate science. It is mainly adding extra content - to certain units - with just a few extra Key Concepts. 

Are all the AQA GCSE spec points hit through teaching? Exact examples are needed as the exam quotes these in the mark scheme.

Yes, Blueprint covers all of the AQA Combined Science specifications. The planners will give the GCSE reference, statement by statement where each spec point is taught. The planners indicate the depth of knowledge - whether it is a low-level concept or a complex understanding that has associated Apply and Analyse objectives.

Is Blueprint only matched to AQA Combined trilogy Spec?

The main ideas in each Key Concept cover all the Combined Science specifications, as they are very similar. There are differences at the individual statement level, which is where we have matched AQA.