Science Curriculum Statement

“Science is the language of curiosity.” Professor Brian Cox

“The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.”  Edward Teller

Intent

At St Bede’s Primary School it is our vision to distil a lifelong love of science within our pupils. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We work hard to provide a rich and varied curriculum to challenge and meet the needs of our children. We believe all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. From EYFS up to KS2 our pupils will build 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 natural phenomena. Science brings wonder and wow!

At St Bede’s Primary School, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as plants are taught at Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. This allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory.

All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts taught should be reinforced by focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.

Implementation

Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all pupils are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following;

• Existing knowledge is checked at the beginning of each topic using a concept map. These are used as a whole class and teacher led in KS1 and developed to be used by individual children in KS2. These allow children to record their thoughts, ideas and knowledge about each science topic.
•  Through our planning, using the Kent Primary Scheme of Work, we involve problem solving opportunities that allow children to apply their knowledge, and find out answers for themselves. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. This curiosity is celebrated within the classroom. Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often involving high-quality resources to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess pupils regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all pupils keep up. Tasks are selected and designed to provide appropriate challenge to all learners, in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion.
•  We build upon the knowledge and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, they become more proficient in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence. ●Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure that skills are systematically developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. This is developed through the years, in-keeping with the topics.
• Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills in order to embed scientific understanding. Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning and workshops with experts.
• Children are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities, visits, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class.
• At the end of each topic, key knowledge is reviewed by the children and rigorously checked by the teacher and consolidated as necessary.

Work is recorded regularly on Seesaw by class teachers which is shared with parents. The science page on the school website is updated regularly to show the children across all age groups working in their science lessons in school and out on field trips.

Impact

Our Science curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. Children enjoy and are enthusiastic about science in our school; their work shows a range of topics and evidence of curriculum coverage for all science topics. Standards in science at the end of the key stages are good and issues arising are addressed effectively in school. Our SLT and governors are kept up to date with developments in the way science is run in our school with action plans and review meetings.

During Reception’s visit to Forest School they searched for Minibeasts around the woodland and in the pond.

They also explored making fires safely, and learnt about the fire triangle. 

Reception have been incubating eggs and have managed to hatch 3 healthy Chicks! The children were so excited to watch the eggs hatch. This year we were lucky that the eggs hatched during they day as usually the hatch during the night. They are now learning how to look after the chicks and watching closely how they change and grow. They have called their chicks Fluffy, Sunflower and Chick Chick. 

Yearly Overview - 2021 - 2022

Useful websites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/

http://www.compare4kids.co.uk/learn.php

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/science/

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2science.html

Science