Challenge
Welcome to the Challenge website area.
Challenge- Helping our young people to investigate and interact with the world around them.
Challenge is a skills-based subject area that combines Science, ICT and Design & Technology. Challenge is taught weekly from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4, and different areas of Challenge are covered by Early Years Development Matters (Understanding the World & Expressive Arts and Design) in EYFS, and ASDAN in Key Stage 5. Like other foundation subjects, Challenge follows a thematic approach, which offers exciting opportunities for pupils to explore, create and investigate.
Design & Technology
This subject area focuses on building pupils' skills in interacting with different materials, tools and equipment. Design & Technology helps pupils to build their confidence in planning, designing and making activities. These activities can include cooking and baking, making practical items and evaluating different products. In Autumn term 2024 pupils have prepared healthy sandwiches, made paper mache police hats and used melted chocolate to make boo-nanas. Design & technology activities are fun and interactive, and help our young people to gain more independence in every day tasks.
Science
An inclusive, high-quality Science education enables all pupils to explore and understand the world in ways that are meaningful and accessible to them. Through the broad disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, teaching at Park Lane School is adapted to meet a wide range of learning needs of our students ensuring that every learner can engage, achieve and make progress.
Science plays a vital role in shaping our lives and the future of our world. All pupils should be supported to access essential scientific knowledge, methods and processes through flexible approaches, including scaffolding, practical experiences, visual supports and differentiated instruction. By building secure foundational knowledge and concepts over time, pupils should be encouraged, at their own pace and in ways suited to their strengths, to appreciate, explore and develop curiosity and enjoyment in exploring natural phenomena.
The Park Lane Science curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:
• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with appropriate support and adaptation
• develop understanding of scientific processes and methods through a range of enquiry-based approaches, tailored to different learning needs
• are equipped, at a level appropriate to them, with the scientific knowledge needed to understand the uses and implications of science in today’s world and for the future
Science at Park Lane is taught across the school. From KS1 to KS4 it is aligned with our termly themes and covers the following topics: Scientific Enquiry, Energy & Forces, Living Things and Materials.
Please find in our files how SMSC is developed throughout our Challenge Value.