Science Department
Information for New Staff
Staff
Teaching Staff
Lynda Dunlop Lead Teacher (Physical Sciences)
María Villarreal Lead Teacher (Biological Sciences); Resources Manager
Vicki
Thew Biology Teacher (Lead Tutor
forms 2 & 3 and exams officer)
Mike Farrant Biology Curriculum Coordinator
Mike Smith Biology Teacher
Peter Fletcher Chemistry Curriculum Coordinator
Henry Luyombya Physics Curriculum Coordinator
Star Stromberg Senior Manager with responsibility for science
Existing
staff e-mail addresses at the end of this document.
Technical Staff
Lulú Delgado
Martínez
Macrina
Castañeda Mancera
The School Year
The school year is divided into two
semesters. The first one is very long
with almost no breaks. During each
semester there are 2 grading periods.
This is when we have to input grades for the Mexican education
system. It is essential that you let
students know how you will be assessing them at the beginning of the year so
that they can prepare for these grading periods, and
also that you keep your own records.
Most teachers do this by providing a course background with a % assigned
to homework, bookwork, exams, effort, projects etc. I am attaching an example for lower sixth
chemistry. See assessment section for
more details.
The Mexican Curriculum
Year groups at the Lancaster are
form 1 (last year of Mexican primary), forms 2 – 4 (Mexican secondary) and form
5, lower 6th and upper 6th (Mexican preparatory.)
In forms 1 – 4, we follow the
Mexican Secretaría de Educación Publica (SEP) programmes, along with the
relevant GCSE syllabus in form 4.
In form 5, Mexican Colegio de
Ciencias y Humanidades (CCH) programmes are combined with the GCSE.
In Lower 6th, the International
Baccalaureate (IB) programmes are combined with Mexican CCH programmes.
In Upper 6th British AS/A
level programmes are combined with CCH programmes. School programmes for your subject should
already have these programmes combined, but here are some useful websites,
should you want the source:
SEP http://www.reformasecundaria.sep.gob.mx/ciencia_tecnologia/index.html
CCH http://www.dgire.unam.mx/contenido/normatividad/cch_planes_estudio.htm
IGCSE http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/middlesec/igcse/subjects
AS/A level http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/uppersec/alevel
IB http://occ.ibo.org/ibis/occ/guest/home.cfm
(you need a password for this site – Star should help you get one.) In the meantime, your curriculum coordinator
can send you a copy if you want one.
What we Teach
We will let you know what you are
teaching as soon as we have the class lists.
Form
1 Integrated Science (SEP)
Form
2 Biology
(SEP)
Chemistry (Lancaster
programme)
Form
3 Physics (SEP)
Chemistry (Lancaster
programme)
Form
4 Physics IGCSE Coordinated Science IGCSE Physics
Chemistry (SEP) IGCSE
Coordinated Science IGCSE
Chemistry
Biology IGCSE Coordinated Science IGCSE Biology
Form
5 Physics IGCSE Physics
Chemistry CCH combined with IGCSE
Chemistry
Biology IGCSE Biology
Lower
6th Chemistry IB Chemistry
Physics CCH combined with IB
Physics
Biology CCH combined with IB Biology
Upper
6th Chemistry CCH Chemistry
Physics CCH only or CCH combined
with AS/A level Physics
Biology CCH only or CCH combined
with AS/A level Biology
Procedure for Requesting Practicals
Lulú and Macrina organize your
practicals. They are wonderful and will
do pretty much anything you ask them. In
the prep room there is a book to write down your lab requests. Please do this at least 48 hours before you need the experiment and preferably
earlier so that the technicians can plan their work, and get you and everyone
else everything you need. If you require
special materials such as fresh hearts, chemicals that we do not have, or food
items please speak to Lulú a week in advance so that she can find a
supplier.
Science Resources
Please ensure that you record which
textbook (with number) is given to each student. Lulú will give you a sheet to record this on,
and you should return this to her. At the
end of the year, students should return their textbooks to the technicians and
they will sign their leaving forms.
All broken equipment must be paid
for by the student, even if the breakage is the result of an accident. Please send the student to the technicians
who will record the breakage and issue the fine.
If you need any materials such as
board markers, ask Lulú or Macrina.
There are no lesson plans and the
school encourages creativity in the classroom.
However, we do have files of worksheets and a shared network where you
can find more worksheets and practical ideas.
To access these through SSH, enter the following:
correo.lancaster.edu.mx (if this
doesn’t work try 192.168.1.2 instead)
username: science
password: science
We have reference books in the prep
room and more in the library. Class sets
of textbooks are available. At the
beginning of the year you should speak to Lulú so that she can give you sheets
for recording the books you give out to each student.
There are computers with internet
access in room 19. Please prioritise the
use of these computers before booking the computer rooms.
The Labs
Nobody has a lab of their own,
although we do try to minimize movement between labs. However, it is important that everyone makes
sure that the students take responsibility for the space by leaving food and
drink outside and cleaning up their workspace after themselves. All loans to other departments (e.g. of
equipment such as rulers or stopwatches) should be done through Lulú as she
keeps records on what we have and where it is.
Paperwork
Avances For CCH subjects, there
is a folder with your name on it in Susana’s office. You need to copy the sheets and fill in what
you teach each lesson. The same exists
in Lucy’s office for SEP subjects.
Curriculum coordinators need to hand in copies of the programmes in use
each semester.
Reports We fill in reports twice
a year. Students must be given at least
an academic and an attitude to learning comment, in addition to boxes
ticked.
Assessment
IGCSE work is assessed at the end of
form 5 by examination only (check out the specifications on www.cie.org.uk) The students do papers 1, 6 and 2 or 3 in
biology, chemistry and physics. We don’t
do coursework for GCSEs.
AS and A2 work is assessed at the
end of upper sixth by examination only.
No coursework. You can find out
more on the CIE webpage for your subject.
IB assessment is 24% practical work
and 76% examination. The assessment (and
all other) information for the IB is available on their website when you are
given your password by Star. If you need
information before that, get in touch.
The website for the IB curriculum centre is http://occ.ibo.org A CCH grade 8 is supposed to be equivalent to
a grade 4 at IB.
SEP work is assessed twice a
semester. You can give grades between 5
and 10 (5 is a fail and 10 is the highest grade, although you can give grades
below 5 in your own marking…making sense?!)
You can grade however you like.
For example, you can decide to grade the kids on 60% classwork, 30%
projects and 10% effort. The percentage
that you assign is entirely up to you, but you must let the students know at
the beginning of the semester.
CCH work is also assessed twice a
semester. You can give grades between 5 and 10 (10 is the highest.) There are a set of exams at the end of each
semester: primera vuelta and segunda vuelta.
In order to be exempt from these exams, students have to achieve an
overall grade of 8 for the semester and also have 90% attendance. If students fail these exams or have an
attendance less than 85%, they must do the extraordinario exam. The same idea applies to grades as for
SEP. In theory, an 8 is equivalent to a
C in the British system.
Resources
TVs, DVDs, Videos, Cameras,
Projectors and Laptops can be ordered through Diana in the copy room. Teachers can do their own copying or leave it
with Diana. The lower computer room can
be booked for classes when the computers in room 19 are in use. The Science Department has a laptop and
projector which can be booked with Lulu and Macrina.
Roles within the Department
Lead
Teacher: Responsible for
teaching and learning in the department and supporting teachers.
Curriculum
coordinator:
Responsible for co-ordinating the
development of programmes of study for each subject area.
Resource
manager: Responsibility for orders
and other resources needed by department.
Contact details