St John Bosco R. C. Primary
SchoolScience
Intent
At St John Bosco RC Primary School, we are dedicated to providing our pupils with a comprehensive and adaptable Science curriculum from Nursery to Year 6. We intend for our children to be provided with the foundations they need to recognise the importance of science in every aspect of daily life. We want our children to appreciate how science has changed the life of human beings and know that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Therefore, all pupils will be taught essential aspects of 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. Our ‘Big Ideas’ such as ‘Achievements of Civilisations’ and ‘Change Makers’ enables children to explore the key work of scientists who have changed the world forever, while ideas such as ‘Scale of the World’ give children the opportunity to experience awe and wonder at what the physical world has to offer.
Children should be taught to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. Our curriculum also encourages children to become enquiry-based learners, collaborating through researching, investigating and evaluating experiences.
It will provide opportunities for the critical evaluation of evidence and rational explanation of scientific phenomena as well as opportunity to apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data. Children will be immersed in key scientific vocabulary, which supports the acquisition of scientific knowledge and understanding.
The following types of scientific enquiries are woven throughout our curriculum: Problem Solving, Pattern Seeking, Comparative/Fair Testing, Research, Observation Over Time and Identifying, Grouping and Classifying to ensure that children are gaining a full breadth of opportunities to engage in learning as scientists. All aspects of ‘Working Scientifically’ from the National Curriculum are interwoven throughout our curriculum, again, to ensure that children understand what it means to be a successful scientist.
All children will be provided with a broad and balanced science curriculum, which builds on prior learning and reflects the equality and diversity policies and practice in school.
In Practice:
Science is taught weekly for 1.5 hours. Developing Experts is the main science scheme for our school. The flexibility of the scheme allows teachers to adapt the curriculum to the specific needs of their students. Developing Experts can be supplemented by CUSP science and other resources chosen specifically by the teacher can be used to meet the need of the students.
Through the use of Developing Experts resources, we aim to ensure that all children have the opportunity to learn science knowledge and vocabulary, revisit knowledge and science vocabulary, and to apply it in meaningful experiments across each year group. We use child friendly indicative assessment opportunities, through; Mission Assignments, quizzes, comprehensive handouts and a range of other activities that interweave with prior learning, as well as end of unit assessments. This blend of assessments grants teachers the necessary tools to ensure pupils make good or better progress in science.
The Developing Experts curriculum revisits and builds upon the national curriculum objectives with extra lessons to really strengthen and make links between science units.
We feel that it is important that the opportunity is offered to extend higher achieving pupils beyond the limits of a key stage of National Curriculum, as well as catering for those that need extra support. As such, our Developing Experts scheme has included additional lessons and resources that carry ‘signpost’ to extended learning capability, which is used at the discretion of the class teachers.
In EYFS, science relates to the specific area of learning “Understanding the world.” Through direct teaching and continuous provision, children begin to learn about people, culture and communities or The Natural World through daily activities and exploring their locality and immediate environment.
In Year 1 & 2 pupils explore and make sense of the world around them; naming things and understanding how they fit in their environment. Children identify what makes, animals and humans, materials and their uses, plants and seasonal change.
There is a clear progression pathway from Year 1 to Year 2 and children are encouraged to work scientifically, investigating, observing, recording and sharing, using simple equipment increasing their curiosity for their surroundings. We believe that the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes builds strong foundations. Our emphasis on keywords reinforces their learning and understanding.
In each lesson Developing Experts explains things and relates them to the world outside home and education, enabling children at a young age to begin to form the relationships of the working world within their own conceptual understanding.
In Year 3 and 4 the pupils have established the foundational scientific concepts, we now add depth to their understanding of the areas from KS1 and broaden the range of topics and concepts studied; rocks, human impact on living things - conservation and pollution, and eventually, states of matter, sound, and electricity.
Children are immersed and progressively build on their foundational scientific knowledge and vocabulary.
Our assessment provides clear guidance as to where each pupil is in their individual learning journey, enabling teachers to adjust the style of delivery or repeat a resource if required.
Children become more conversant with the world of work through our expert dialogue that applies STEM knowledge to the professional context.
We continue to encourage children to be inquisitive through real life experiences where possible such as: pond dipping or investigating dead trees for life, or testing material resistance to glass paper, or impact testing to list characteristics; then to chart and classify their data and form narratives from their findings developing their skills to work scientifically.
In Year 5 and Year 6, pupils are becoming confident and independent young scientists. Through their explorations, they raise questions, make simple hypotheses that they test, collect data for, then subject to analysis and report from. The breadth of study now includes the solar system, forces, light and evolution. They have developed their language and communication through their study of our key words and the dialogue of our experts in the field.
Children have Science exercise books to record their learning. Teachers use rocket quizzes from Developing Experts to embed learning.
After school Science club has enhanced the children’s engagement with the subject further.
Texts in English may link with science topics to enable deeper understanding of the aspects of history studied and bring science alive through stories. Trips and experiences are also arranged to support science.
Our school grounds are regularly used for inspiration and materials which enhances the children’s enjoyment of science and enables them to see how their learning could be extended at home.
Cross- Curricular Links:
We aim to integrate science into other subjects. This includes:
Art - sketching or modelling, spectrum of colour
Geography – Physical Geography – Biomes, Habitats, rock formations, time zones, The water cylce, Weather patterns, Equator, hemispheres
English – Writing Information texts, biography, creating questions
Music- Sound
Maths- Data handling, percentages, statistics, reflection, measurement, sorting information, temperature, Time History – Historical changes, properties of materials in the stone age to iron age, changes over time
PE- Fitness, exercise, muscles and heart rate/ pulse
PSHE – Health and wellbeing, SRE, keeping safe
DT – Pulleys, gears, structures, food, textiles
Computing – Using software to create
How Parents Can Help:
Discuss science when you are out and about. Always be positive about science and help your children think like scientists. Read and share scientific books.
Let them help you in the kitchen, cooking and baking are perfect ways to help children think like scientist. Measuring, following directions and creating chemical reactions.
Let them asks questions, it might not always be possible to answer all of them but let them ask you and acknowledge the questions. You could also model asking questions to show them that it is ok to ask questions, this shows that not everyone knows everything and the world as lots of new things to learn. Value their questions and find the answers together
Let them build and create- Building and designing is all part of the scientific process. When children use toys such as legos, blocks, magnetic tiles, and other building toys, they’re learning about trial and error. They’re also learning a lot about physics, gravity, balance, and other scientific principles. Letting your child create is a big step into helping develop their scientific thinking skills
Get outside and explore - The world is the best science lab a child could “work” in. Give your child the opportunity to get outside and look at nature close up. Observing plants, animals, and insects is a valuable use of time. If possible, take your children to local parks, forests, or other natural areas. You can give them a magnifying glass, sketchbook, and pencil, and then them draw what they see. This will probably encourage a lot of great thoughts and questions.
Learn how it works - Children naturally tend to wonder how things work. A very easy way to help them understand how things work is to watch How It’s Made which is available on YouTube. This program encourages curiosity and teaches children how a variety of things are manufactured or created. It’s a great way to give students science support at home.
Encourage children to record their observations.
Writing, drawing, or taking photographs are all ways to record observations - an important scientific skill. Such records allow children to keep track of what they saw, heard, questioned, or discovered. When you notice your child is interested in something (like the moon, leaves changing on the trees, or the growth of a plant) you can suggest ways for them to record what they have observed. “Do you want to draw that?” or “Do you want to take photos?” or “Do you want me to help you write down what you noticed?”
These BBC Bitesize websites link to videos, games and information a wide range of science knowledge:
Early Years Teaching Resources - BBC Teach
Science interactive activities that can be used at home to further enhance their science learning.
Home | WowScience - Science games and activities for kids
Science News | The latest news from all areas of science
Science Primary Resources | National Geographic Kids (natgeokids.com)
StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers (nasa.gov)