Science

INTENT  

At Leesland CofE Federation we believe that science is a key subject to inspire children’s curiosity and interest to explore the world. We want our children to be inquisitive, explore and question the world around them.  Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity therefore we aim to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge, skills and temperament to support them for future endeavours. We work hard to provide a rich and varied curriculum to challenge and meet the needs of our children as we believe all pupils should be taught the skills of working scientifically and the essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. From EYFS up to UKS2 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. We aim to provide our children with a wide range of opportunities in science with competition exposure and make links to other subjects across the curriculum. Teachers plan with the support of the science leader who has created a skill based curriculum covering the Hampshire Science models. We challenge pupils on a weekly basis to develop the progressive working scientifically skills to explore and embed the knowledge of science across the schools and year groups. Teachers will critically asses the children’s understanding, adapting and intervening so that all pupils develop scientific knowledge and skills ready for the next stage in their learning as well as a sense of curiosity for the ever changing world we live in.

IMPLEMENTATION

Using the Hampshire Science Model, alongside the National Curriculum objectives we will ensure that all pupils:

•        Exploring their ideas, conduct own investigations and record their experiences

•        Has a progression of understanding and skill as they move up the schools.

•        Build of knowledge and apply previous learning to lessons and investigations.

As such, the science curriculum is divided into a series of units which will build on skills and knowledge from Year 1 to Year 6, with a focus on at least one particular theme. Each unit has been designed to build on previous knowledge from earlier units so that the learning is progressive. In addition to this we track the modules against the National Curriculum and sequenced them so that a progression of skills for each module can be easily tracked for each themed topic for their year groups.

IMPACT

 A unit will include the understanding and scientific language introduced, investigations which use a required format for planning so that children build on their skills and knowledge when investigating and many application opportunities to explore each topic in a rich and purposeful way.

We want children to be able to:

• Take ownership of their own science knowledge and understanding (through projects and investigation which as they move up the year groups, will take more ownership of).

• Appreciate and be inspired by a range of scientist and inventors so that they will see the importance of science on all of us.

• Learn to use associated vocabulary freely and appropriately.

• Use different investigations, experiments and incorporate informal science activities into their daily life

• Evaluate their own and others’ work with reference to prediction, purpose, impact and outcomes.

Curriculum Map

Year 3 – grow their own flowers and vegetables in the raised borders.

Year 4 – encourage birds and insects with their own, bird feeders.

Year 5 – has an exciting year group visit to Intech, to recap previous learning and introduce making new substances topic.

Year 6 – understand more about their own bodies when they study respirations and circulation.

What our pupils say about Science

Science is great I really love the investigations. 

I want to do more science. 

Science makes me happy. 

Science is great, I feel I can do more experiments without the teachers help. 

I really learn a lot in science.

I can remember what I have learnt in science right back to the infants. 

I loved learning about the solar system and going to Intech. 

Experiments are cool, It is so much fun finding out about things. 

I love science, especially all the investigations. 

I really like science, it was interesting using the torches in Light. 

I want to do more investigations on my own – it would be good to set out own questions.