Outdoor Classroom | Biology

Key Stage 4 Programmes

Hands-on experience, including fieldwork, is vital for enthusing students and supporting their understanding of science. Gaining the skills, knowledge and understanding of how science works is at the heart of the GCSE science specifications. FSC Key stage 4 programmes help science to ‘make sense’, using practical activities and examples which will make links with everyday lives.

FSC Key Stage 4 programmes are fixed length courses with clearly stated outcomes that enable teachers to quickly and easily  book a fieldtrip, safe in the knowledge that it will be directly related to work taught in the classroom and will contribute to achieving the curriculum.

All programmes will include:

  • Using data, evidence, theories and explanations
  • Practical and enquiry skills
  • Communications skills
  • Applications and implications of science

As well as covering specific elements of the science curriculum all programmes also place a strong emphasis on developing personal confidence and team-building skills and an opportunity to consider aspects of citizenship.

GCSE Science and Applied Science

Five day programme:
How Science Works

This course is based around practical investigations – planning, carrying out and analysing – in key areas of the GCSE science curricula:

  • Adaptations and Interdependence
  • Variation and Classification
  • Human Impacts
  • Bio-indicators
  • Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycles
  • Forces and Motion.
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GCSE Additional Applied Science

Five day programme:
Science in Action

Using practicals and fieldwork, linked to careers and workplaces in the environment, this course will develop a portolio of examples to support the GCSE practical assessment.

  • Conservation
  • Agriculture and land management
  • Water quality and management
  • Forestry
  • Earth science.
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Cross-Currciular Options

See also our cross-curricular options at KS4, including the John Muir Award Programme, which combines fun, adventure and exploration with discovery, and conservation of wild places, and our Eco-Adventure programmes.