Science
Subject Leader: Mr Kerrigan
Children live in an age of fast-moving science and this area of learning is fundamental to exploring, understanding and influencing the natural and made worlds in which we live. Our aim is to build on the children’s natural enthusiasm and curiosity to find out about phenomena and events in the world around them and make better sense of their environment.
Teaching and Learning
Children learn in a bespoke Science lesson every week. There are also many cross-curricular learning opportunities. They are taught to apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data. Science is explored in Design and Technology lessons, especially when studying the properties of materials. In English, recounts and explanation texts help children understand Scientific principles.
Sequenced Learning
In the Foundation stage, children begin to develop an understanding of science through the broad area ‘Understanding the World’. Children explore and find out about the world around them and begin to ask questions about it.
Science is also a key feature in our Forest Schools sessions in Acorns Class. Children blend many subjects here, but part of a Forest School session is to explore the wonders of nature, sparking an interest and enthusiasm for Science.
As children progress through the school they are given a wide range of scientific experiences, as they are introduced to more complex scientific ideas. Children learn to ask scientific questions and begin to appreciate the way science is an integral part of our everyday modern life and will affect the future and present on a personal, national and global level. The curriculum develops scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through a range of topics, from the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Children work scientifically and develop their understanding of scientific enquiry, by establishing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling.
Evidence of sequenced learning is shown in Study Books which demonstrate sequencing of thinking scientifically and science topics related to each area e.g. biology, chemistry, physics and geology.
Endpoints
Through the use of the intent, implementation and impact approach below, we have designed an action plan that aims to achieve specific endpoints.
By the end of EYFS, children will have had the opportunity to explore and discuss similarities and differences in the world around them, in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. The children will be able to talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how different environments might vary from one another. They will be able to make observations of animals and plants and will be able to explain and talk about why some changes occur.
By the end of Key Stage 1, largely through practical, first-hand experiences, children will have developed their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry and they will be able to explain their understanding using simple scientific language. They will be able to ask and answer their questions based on their own observations. Children will be able to identify patterns and will be able to group and classify living things by carrying out simple comparative tests.
By the end of Lower Key Stage 2, children will have broadened their scientific view by having the opportunity to explore, discuss, test and develop ideas about the world around them. They will be able to discuss and explain relationships between living things and familiar environments. They will be able to ask their own questions to expand their understanding about what they observe. They will also be beginning to make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering questions posed to them. The children will now be able to draw simple conclusions and use some specific scientific language, to discuss their findings.
By the end of Upper Key Stage 2, children will have developed a deep understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They will be able to analyse functions, relationships and interactions more systematically. Children will have had the opportunity to encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They will be able to select the most appropriate ways to answering science questions, using different types of scientific enquiry. The children will be able to draw conclusions based on their findings and observations. They will be able to justify and explain their ideas using evidence and secure scientific knowledge.
Subject Action Plan
Curriculum Map