What is Science?

Science is having knowledge and understanding of our world, whilst having the skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry. It develops the natural curiosity of the child, encourages respect for living organisms and the physical environment and provides opportunities for critical evaluation of evidence.

Through the eyes of our children, Science is important because:

‘It helps us to develop our knowledge that we can learn  and decide how to solve problems and understand how things work.’

Early Learning Goals

Children are given the opportunities through:

Understanding the World to:

• Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things.
• They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.
• They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

National Curriculum

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

Intent

At St. Andrew’s, Church of England Primary School, we aim for our children to be inquisitive throughout their time at the school and beyond. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout the programmes of study, the children we aim for our children to acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills. We ensure that the Working Scientifically skills are built on and developed throughout children’s time at the school, so that they can apply their knowledge of science when using equipment, conducting experiments, building arguments and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings.

The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

Implementation:

The teaching and implementation of the Science curriculum at St. Andrew’s C.E. Primary School is based on the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum and supported by expectations from Chris Quigley Milestones, ensuring a well-structured approach.

Our pupils should be able to organise their knowledge, skills and understanding on the following key concepts:

• Work scientifically;
• Understand plants;
• Understand animals and humans;
• Investigate living things;
• Understand evolution and inheritance;
• Investigate materials;
• Understand movement, forces and magnets;
• Understand the Earth’s movement in space
• Investigate light and seeing
• Investigate sound and hearing
• Understand electrical circuits.

These key concepts underpin learning in each milestone. This enables pupils to reinforce and build upon prior learning, make connections and develop subject specific language. 

Our Science curriculum is taught each term throughout year and in KS1 and KS2 children have weekly lessons using a variety of resources.  In Early years, science is taught through the children learning about the world around them in their learning through play. 

At St. Andrew’s, we are dedicated to the teaching and delivery of a high-quality Science curriculum through well planned and resourced projects and experiences. We have determined that Science will taught in bespoke units across the school year. During Science units, our children draw upon subject knowledge and skills from both English and Mathematics  and across the wider curriculum.

Through planning, problem solving opportunities are planned to that allow children to solve problems for themselves. Planning also ensures that learning and skill development from previous years is structured and progressive. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. A range of high-quality resources are used to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge.  Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching.

Impact

Through the explicit teaching of the Science skills, teachers and the children assess their learning continuously throughout the lesson. At the end of each unit, teachers complete unit evaluations, assessing attainment against the Chris Quigley Essentials milestones to make informed judgements about the depth of their learning and the progress children have made over time.