UPD8

Two year Key Stage 3

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• Two year Key Stage 3
• What makes upd8 wikid tick

Are you considering a condensed KS3 curriculum?

• Upd8 wikid is compatible with schools who are intending to follow a 2 year KS3 programme.
• Our year 7 and 8 units together address all the Big Scientific Ideas from the National Curriculum and Strategy Framework.
• You can complete the KS3 requirements within two years, by using the Y7 and 8 units as they are.
• This solution gives you most of the benefits of our 3 year programme, and a strong grounding in How Science Works for any KS3 assessment, and as preparation for GCSE.

Our Y9 programme is designed specifically for schools that are following a 3 year programme. It offers a sensible pace, progression and opportunity that most students need to fully develop skills and understanding.

We do not recommend schools following a 2 year KS3 to squeeze all of the Y9 units within the two years. This might cancel out some of the motivational benefits of our approach. Also, note this will be difficult because the publishing date for the first Y8 units is May-June 2009 (to ensure quality). However, it will be possible to compress the Y8 units a little, and so you can insert at least one Y9 unit within your year 8 programme.

These are our recommended options for Y9 if you are following a 2 year KS3:

The basis of the smooth transition is that both upd8 wikid and Key Stage 4 are mapped to the same progression framework (from the National Strategy).

Option 1: Blend. Start your GCSE course at the beginning of year 9 and within the topics, bring in teaching sequence from wikid Y9 units to reinforce the How science works aspects of the GCSE content. You can pair up the 'Big Ideas' of upd8 wikid with the 'range and content' of the KS4 curriculum. For instance, a GCSE module focussing on chemical patterns and changing atmosphere can be paired with our Car 2.0 unit. This has the advantage of reducing repetition of topics in Y9 and Y10.

Option 2: Join up. Use selected wikid yr9 units at the beginning of the year, and then move on to GCSE topics.

In 2008-9 we will provide a solution for the transition to all the GCSE specifications, having consulted with schools that follow each one.

The Yr 9 units will also be differentiated with 14-16 progression routes in mind e.g. Triple Science, Core plus Additional, Core plus applied.