A rotating programme developing scientific knowledge, practical skills, and analytical thinking across the breadth of matter and its transformations — from the structure of the atom to the chemistry shaping our planet’s future.
We use an active-learning approach encouraging students to think like chemists, asking how and why substances behave as they do and connecting structure and bonding to the properties we observe. Skills are developed through an enquiry-based approach structured around the two papers of the course. Paper 1: atomic structure, bonding, quantitative chemistry, chemical changes, energy changes, and the rate and extent of chemical change. Paper 2: organic chemistry, chemical analysis, the chemistry of the atmosphere, and using resources. Required practicals and skills to work scientifically are woven throughout.
Year 1
The blueprint of all matter. Work explores the atom and the model we use to picture it, how that model was pieced together through experiment, why isotopes let us date the past, and how electron arrangement explains everything from helium’s calm to sodium’s fury — and the colourful chemistry of the transition metals.
Why substances behave as they do. Work explores particles changing state, the three great bonding types — ionic, covalent and metallic — and how structure explains the everyday: why metals conduct, why diamond is hard and graphite soft, and why some substances demand so much energy to melt.
The mathematics behind the reaction. Work explores the conservation of mass, the puzzle of disappearing and growing masses, and the mole as chemistry’s counting unit — before turning to titrations, concentrations, yield and atom economy: the tools that make chemistry efficient.
Reactions that transform. Work explores the reactivity series and why some metals must be wrenched from their ores by carbon or electricity, how acids and bases meet to make salts, what separates a strong acid from a weak one, and the power of electrolysis to split compounds apart.
Every reaction has an energy bill. Work explores exothermic and endothermic change, energy profiles and activation energy, how bond energies let us calculate the cost — and how this same chemistry powers cells, batteries and the clean promise of the hydrogen fuel cell.
Science lessons are focussed on Biology and Physics this term.
Year 2
How fast, and how far? (First half of term.) Work explores the ways we measure reaction rate, the factors that speed it up — surface area, temperature, concentration, catalysts — and the delicate balance of reversible reactions, where Le Chatelier’s principle predicts which way equilibrium will shift.
The chemistry of carbon, and of life. (Running across half term.) Work explores crude oil and its fractions, combustion and cracking, then builds upward through alkenes, alcohols, carboxylic acids and polymers — to the natural giants of amino acids, DNA, starch and cellulose.
Detective work at the molecular scale. Work explores how we test for purity, separate mixtures by chromatography, and identify ions by flame tests and precipitates — before turning to the instrumental methods that make modern analysis fast, sensitive and precise.
The air, and its future. Work explores how Earth’s early atmosphere formed and changed, the greenhouse effect that makes life possible, and the human activity now tipping the balance — alongside the pollutants behind acid rain and global dimming, and the ways we might reduce them.
Chemistry for a finite planet. (Second half of term.) Work explores how we sustain resources for the future, secure clean water, and cut waste through life cycle assessment, recycling and corrosion control — and how the Haber process and NPK fertilisers feed a growing world.
Consolidating the course. Key concepts are revisited and the required practicals are reviewed in depth — methods, variables, results and evaluation — building the confidence to tackle practical-based exam questions.
Year 3
The foundations, revisited for mastery. Work consolidates atomic models, isotopes and electronic structure, separation techniques, and the experimental evidence behind the atom — alongside the periodic table’s history, trends and the distinctive character of the transition metals.
The numbers that govern reactions. Work draws together conservation of mass, relative formula mass and the mole, measurement uncertainty, yield and atom economy, and the calculations linking masses, concentrations and gas volumes.
How bonding shapes everything. Work consolidates ionic, covalent and metallic bonding, the link between structure and properties, the many forms of carbon, and the surprising behaviour of matter at the nanoscale.
The energy of reactions, in depth. Work consolidates exothermic and endothermic change, reaction profiles and activation energy, and the electrochemistry of simple cells, rechargeable batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.
Reactivity, in full. Work consolidates metal reactions and redox, the reactivity series and displacement, metal extraction, the reactions of acids through neutralisation and titration, the pH scale and strong and weak acids — and electrolysis, with its half-equations and predictions.
The final stretch. Revision is active: core concepts revisited, past papers practised, exam technique sharpened — turning three years of chemistry into confident, exam-ready understanding.
End of Course Exams
Bonding, structure and the properties of matter; Quantitative chemistry; Chemical changes; Energy changes
The rate and extent of chemical change; Organic chemistry; Chemical analysis; Chemistry of the atmosphere; Using resources
