In Year 8, students will build on the foundations of knowledge from year 7. Students will focus on the building blocks for all scientific disciplines during the course of Year 8. Students are encouraged to build on their practical ability fostered in Year 7 to look at effective ways of analysing and using data and extracting information in a range of scenarios.

Term	Learning Cycle	Key Concepts
Autumn 1	Gas Exchange Heart and Respiration	Inhalation, exhalation and gas exchange Lung disease Blood and blood vessels Heart, aerobic and anaerobic respiration Effect of exercise Respiration in yeast
Autumn 2	Photosynthesis	Structure of the leaf and transport systems Diffusion and active transport Fertiliser
Spring 1	Chemical Reactions	Structure of the atom and atoms in a chemical reaction Conservation of mass practical Combustion and thermal decomposition
Spring 2	Periodic table Rocks	Groups of the periodic table Properties of metals & non-metals Structure of the Earth Rocks and rock cycle Ceramics
Summer 1	Force and Motion Forces	Contact and Non-Contact Forces Resultant forces and Newton’s laws Distance-time graphs and velocity-time graphs Gravity, weight and Mass Friction, drag, stretching and squashing Moments and centre of mass Pressure
Summer 2	Electricity and Magnetism	Circuits and symbols Current, potential difference and resistance Series and parallel circuits Everyday electricity Magnet, magnetic fields and electromagnets