Science

Why we teach your child Science:

Science helps us understand how the world works – it helps us answer and consider some of life’s greatest questions. We want your child to develop a secure understanding of biology, physics and chemistry as well as how to work and think scientifically. By teaching your child science in primary school, we inspire them to continue enjoying these subjects as they enter KS3 and hope many of them see an element of science in a future career.

What our curriculum looks like:

Our science curriculum is ambitious and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from the National Curriculum and the Early Years Framework we have carefully sequenced our science curriculum so children learn in a logical step by step manner.

In science we have carefully considered our macro concepts and our curriculum is sequenced so children’s schemata grows through the connection of new knowledge with previous knowledge.

We have mapped our curriculum, carefully considering some of the following:

• What scientific experiences to children have in EYFS that we can build on?
• How are the components of physics, chemistry and biology developed overtime?
• How do our children become better at working scientifically?
• Is the curriculum planned in accessible step-by-step manner so all children can build on previous learning?
• What misconceptions might children have?
• Are we enabling children to remember what is most important?
• How do trips help enhance science learning?

Our science curriculum long-term plan can be found below:

This is underpinned by a medium-term plan which set out the core knowledge and skills children will be learning in their learning.

Each unit of learning begins with a ‘thinking square’ which assesses the existing knowledge and misconceptions children may have against the core knowledge they need to learn and informs the teaching of that unit. At the end of each unit children will revisit this thinking square to build on existing knowledge and apply what they have learnt. Additionally, children will complete a ‘conceptual’ question which challenges them to apply their new learning in a more open geographical context – this supports children to retain what they have learnt.

How we teach science:

As with every subject, we recognise what makes science unique and as a result make pedagogical choices to ensure teaching is the best it can possibly be. We use a range of different resources to support the effective teaching of science and encourage our pupils to develop their scientific thinking. We have captured our pedagogical choice for science in our science principles which can be seen below:

How you can help your child at home:

• Why not visit the science museum – it is free of charge and has a great range of exhibits to excite your children and develop their scientific curiousity.
• BBC bitesize has a great range of resources to support science – you can find KS2 resources here and KS1 resources here.
• Go on walks with your child and encourage them to ask questions which might develop their scientific knowledge – some questions you could ask include: Why do you think the trees have no leaves at this time of the year? How can we keep our plants alive? What could we cook together to make a healthy dinner? How do the lights in our house get electricity?
• STEM has a range of home activities which you can find here.