The point in a lesson when some students’ enthusiasm seems to wane sharply is when they are asked to write something down. They tend to be, though not always, the lower-ability students. The Science Access Pack is designed to alleviate some of these problems at key stage 3 and a great deal of thought has gone into it.

Each worksheet is A5 size, to fit into exercise books, and provides a wide range of activities to aid understanding. More traditional approaches are interspersed with innovative ideas: for example, using dictionaries to find meanings for words starting with “micro”.

Comprehension-style exercises ask students to convert information into tables and other activities require that they match words, meanings and examples. With the focus on literacy in all subjects imminent, these activities are particularly useful, as is the excellent glossary.

I particularly liked the way difficult topics - for example, chemical changes - are revisited in different ways.

Single sheets or entire topics could be slotted into existing schemes and this pack would be an excellent resource whichever scheme you currently use.

Helen Reynolds is head of physics at Gosford Hill School, Kidlington, Oxfordshire