Science Faculty
The Science Faculty includes the Subjects of PE, Child Development, Health and Social Care (H&SC) and Science. All Subjects offer courses at KS3 and 4 and in more recent years have diversified into offering both GCSE and vocational courses in the upper school: Science offers the Applied Science GCSE, Health and Social Care (H&SC) is an applied course and PE offers the BTec Sports Science course.
The subjects sit comfortably under the same banner – Science Faculty – because there is considerable overlap in both the vocational and GCSE courses in specific areas and at KS3. This overlap has enabled the subjects to embark on cross curricular work which looks at the science behind fitness and a scientific approach to the measurement of fitness. It has also encouraged the use of resources across the Departments and the development of good practice.
The Faculty can boast some of the most up to date resources in school through considerable investment. The PE Department has a purpose built Sports Hall and the quality of these facilities makes it a home for the Badminton Club of Great Britain.
The Science Department, through the catalyst of specialist schools money has four refurbished labs. of the highest quality. These labs. are each kitted out with data projectors; a wireless network; DVD players and access to more than 50 laptops.
Forensic Science Day at The Westgate School
CSI Day
On Thursday 3rd March, all Year 8 pupils took part in a dramatic Science day. The day, which involved a number of different activities, was based on murder. The workshops demonstrated how science can help solve forensic investigations. They also highlighted some career choices involving science.
Some of the activities throughout the day involved footcasting; fingerprinting and analysing blood spatters. The pupils even had the chance to use real FBI software to help create a facial image of criminals!When combined, the evidence uncovered from the tasks, was concluded in order to convict one of the three suspects. Also, during the science day, the pupils were given disposable suits, to stop them affecting the outcome of any of the experiments. This also added further fun and excitement to the new experience.
My favourite activity of the Forensic Science Day was the Photofit because it was fun because of the way we could try out FBI software that they actually use to identify criminals from real crimes. It was also quite interesting to walk around the classroom and see everyone's points of view from memory and use of the software. As well as these points, I liked this activity because it was quite challenging which meant we had to try hard to get an accurate image of the suspect. On a more serious note, I liked this activity because it helps people's memory and can give you an idea of what it would be like to work as a CSI Investigator. I liked the actual software used because it had many interesting features. Also, I liked the way the software included even the tiniest aspects of the suspect, such as wrinkles or bags under the eyes. I also liked the activity because we were sat quite close together which meant we could compare our attempts with other people.
Keelan Wilton