Science Curriculum

Intent

Science impacts in all aspects of our everyday lives: accessing and understanding scientific learning is vital to the world’s future prosperity in the 21st century and for its citizens. At All Saints, it is our intention to recognise the importance of science in every aspect of daily life in through a curriculum that delivers accessible and practical lessons that appeal to our children. We hope to inspire them by giving the opportunities to pursue their natural curiosity; promoting the experience of exploring and investigating scientific phenomena, in a range of contexts, to ensure a continually evolving knowledge and understanding of the natural and human constructed world around them. We give the teaching and learning of science a creative and practical approach to explore and understand the world and the part that science plays in it.

Our intention is to increase the pupils’ knowledge and understanding of our world, and develop skills associated with science through an enquiry based process: the children are inspired to investigate how and why we are here, ask thought-provoking questions, make close observations and use their senses and prior learning to discover why things happen in certain ways. We intend to develop the natural curiosity of the child, encourage respect for living organisms, their habitats and the wider physical environment and provide opportunities for critical evaluation of evidence. It is our intention that the children consolidate and retain the science knowledge they have learnt as they experience a varied and progressive science curriculum that provides the opportunities to develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Children learn specific scientific vocabulary, to define it and to readily apply it to their written and verbal communication of their scientific ideas. Throughout their science work, pupils will also be encouraged to use and apply their mathematical and English abilities.

Implementation

The implementation of the science curriculum is overseen by the Science Subject Leader, who has provided Class Teachers with a clear and comprehensive Scheme of Work in line with the National Curriculum - reflecting a broad and balanced programme of study -  with the expectation that the scheme is adapted to the specific needs of the class and a practical element to every science lesson. 

Planning involves teachers creating engaging, Quality First lessons, adapting and extending the curriculum to match all pupils’ needs and to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. We build upon the learning and skills development of the previous years, including those undertaken at KS1 feeder-schools. Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning wherever feasible, making maximum use of the school grounds: children will use a range of resources inside and outside of the classroom to develop their knowledge and understanding that is integral to their learning and develop their understanding of working scientifically. Scientific skills are embedded into and developed in lessons: new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. In lessons, children will have the opportunity to work with concrete resources to help understand pictorial and abstract representations of the concepts.

Attainment will be assessed at the end of each scientific topic through formative topic-related assessment tasks, which are monitored by the Science Subject Leader. This is complemented by ongoing summative assessment in the classroom. As with maths and English, marking tends to be in-the-moment in class, allowing for the immediate rectification of misconceptions. Teachers also review any written work that could not be seen during the lesson and provide collective feedback at the start of the next session.

Children will reflect on Blooms-focused objectives during lessons and are encouraged to determine their own next steps in learning; previous learning is reiterated and emphasised with cross-curricular links made wherever possible, particularly in relation to maths and English abilities.

Impact

All children will have:

• A wide variety of skills linked to both scientific knowledge and understanding, and scientific enquiry/investigative skills.
• A rich vocabulary which will enable children to articulate their understanding of taught concepts.
• High aspirations, which will see them through to further study, work and a successful adult life.

Children are formatively assessed at the end of each science topic to gauge their attainment, with ongoing summative assessment opportunities in class; additionally, pupils have opportunities to create their own investigations where they are able to guide their own learning. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Children achieving age related expectations in Science in line and above the national average.
• Children are able to retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science with a real life context.
• Children will be able to question ideas and reflect on their scientific knowledge.
• Children will 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.

The Science Subject Leader, the Headteacher and Senior Leaders take responsibility for the monitoring of the science curriculum and the standards achieved by the children.

The Science Subject Leader will monitor for appropriate pitch and progression according to our agreed monitoring schedule. This monitoring takes the form of:

1. lesson observations and feedback;
2. learning walks and pupil voice conversations;
3. planning scrutiny followed by support where necessary;
4. book-looks on a frequent basis;
5. termly data analysis which is collated and reported to school leaders as well as Governors;
6. moderation alongside other local schools to ensure All Saints maintains high standards;
7. collaborative and transitional opportunities for our KS2 pupils, as well as staff, to engage with local institutions, including secondary schools, in enrichment projects.

The Science Subject Leader, the Headteacher and Senior Leaders identify trends, highlighting ‘stuck’ pupils and focusing on next steps. Where whole-school improvements become evident, the associated actions for recovery will be included on the school's Improvement Plan.