Science
Our Intent for Science
High-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world around us. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We teach the children essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about the world around them Pupils are also encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
We deliver practical, hands-on lessons that encourage curiosity and questioning in order to secure and extend scientific knowledge and skills.
Implementation of the Curriculum
We have a coherently planned science curriculum that is organised into half-termly topics. These topics allow children to develop their knowledge and skills in a progressive format. Each time they build upon prior learning to deepen their understanding. Teachers use end-of-unit assessments to record current levels of understanding. These are revisited prior to teaching new topics to support teachers to deepen understanding.
Teachers also use knowledge organisers to support the children to clarify their thinking and to support them to retain key facts and knowledge. These are distributed at the start of a new topic and are kept inside the children's science book as a useful reference point.
During key stage 1 pupils observe, explore and ask questions about living things, materials and phenomena. They begin to work together to collect evidence to help them answer questions and to link this to simple scientific ideas. They evaluate evidence and consider whether tests or comparisons are fair. They use reference materials to find out more about scientific ideas. They share their ideas and communicate them using scientific language, drawings, charts and tables.
During key stage 2 pupils learn about a wider range of living things, materials and phenomena. They begin to make links between ideas and to explain things using simple models and theories. They apply their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas to familiar phenomena, everyday things and their personal health. They begin to think about the positive and negative effects of scientific and technological developments on the environment and in other contexts. They carry out more systematic investigations, working on their own and with others. They use a range of reference sources in their work. They talk about their work and its significance, and communicate ideas using awide range of scientific language, conventional diagrams, charts and graphs.
The science key stage 1 and 2 curriculum consists of:
Sc1 Scientific enquiry
Sc2 Life processes and living things
Sc3 Materials and their properties
Sc4 Physical processes
Please see below for the topic plan and progression of skills.