Science Vision Statement
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”
Albert Einstein
Science teaches an understanding of natural phenomena. At St Elizabeth’s, we aim to stimulate a child’s curiosity in finding out why things happen in the way they do. It gives opportunities for children to carry out experiments and investigations, building individuals into confident communicators.
Following the National Curriculum, we aim to create a lively interest in science encouraging children to ask How and Why. We deliver creative, engaging lessons allowing children to develop a range of skills, enabling them to work scientifically in different ways. Through this we hope to encourage a scientific approach to problem solving and an understanding of the world around them.
Curriculum Intent
The science curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient learners.
We want to equip them with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the science National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
We want our children to use the vibrancy of our great city to learn from other cultures, respect diversity, co-operate with one another and appreciate what they have. We achieve this by providing a strong SMSC curriculum, with British Values and our core values placed at the heart of everything we do. This often feeds into the science curriculum.
We enrich their time in our school with memorable, unforgettable experiences and provide opportunities which are normally out of reach – these piques their interests and passions.
We firmly believe that it is not just about what happens in the classroom, it is about the added value we offer to really inspire our children.
Curriculum Implementation
Our Science curriculum has learning opportunities and assessment milestones for each year group crafted to ensure progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills. Our Science curriculum is based on a big question which links to the National Curriculum. Every year group has a question for each of their Science topics, which act as a theme around which the learning is planned.
Teachers create a positive attitude to Science learning within their classrooms and re-inforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in Science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of Science involves the following:
- Science is taught in planned and arranged topic blocks by the class teacher. This is a strategy to enable the achievement of a greater depth of knowledge and to ensure all the requirements of the National Curriculum are covered.
- We build on our children’s natural curiosity and encourage their ability to think independently, developing a scientific approach to problems.
- Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career, with new vocabulary and challenging concepts being introduced though direct teaching. This is developed through the years, in keeping with the topics.
- Confidence and competence in the full range of practical skills, taking the initiative in, for example, planning and carrying out scientific investigations.
- Excellent scientific knowledge and understanding which is demonstrated in written and verbal explanations, solving challenging problems and reporting scientific findings.
- The ability to undertake practical work in a variety of contexts, including fieldwork.
- A passion for Science and its application in past, present and future technologies.
We empower our staff to organise their own year group curriculums under the guidance of our subject leaders. Teachers are best placed to make these judgements. Staff develop year group specific long-term curriculum maps which identify when the different subjects and topics will be taught across the academic year. The vast majority of subjects are taught discretely but staff make meaningful links across subjects. They link prior knowledge to new learning to deepen children’s learning.
Our short-term plans are produced on a weekly and daily basis. We use these to set out the learning objectives for each lesson, identifying engaging activities and resources which will be used to achieve them.
All staff teach a weekly science lesson. This helps to ensure that scientific subject matter can be revisited frequently. We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rate of progress they make.
We believe children need the opportunity to observe ‘science in action’ and develop the skills of investigating, theorising, planning and forming conclusions through the context of real life learning and current themes/areas of study that are of a focus.
Curriculum Impact
Through our Science teaching and learning, children should be able to recall knowledge, use scientific vocabulary and develop scientific skills. This should result in children achieving age related expectations in Science at the end of their cohort year. They will retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science with a real life context. Children will be able to question ideas and reflect on knowledge. They will be able to work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment. Children will be able to explain the process they have taken and be able to reason scientifically.
Through a fun, engaging, high-quality Science education, we provide children with the foundations for understanding the world. We provide children with opportunities to experience and explore outdoor learning in our school forest school area, as so much of the Science curriculum lends itself to outdoor learning.
Our staff use formative assessment on a lesson by lesson basis to assess what the children know as the topic progresses. This not only informs their future planning but allows staff to see where the children are working at in science. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in Science are progressive and build year on year.
Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our monitoring cycle. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in science.