Science

Intent:

At St. Mary's, we aim for children to:

• Develop an understanding of “what science is”, combining the foundational understanding of biology, chemistry and physics, at a level appropriate and relevant to them
• Develop an understanding of the disciplinary knowledge required to 'work scientifically', exploring the nature, processes and methods of science through the five different types of scientific enquiry and to help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them, with curiosity and enthusiasm
• Be equipped with the scientific knowledge and literacy required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future
• Develop their Science Capital and think, “Science is for me”.

Our Science Principles are:

(please click to enlarge)

Implementation:

Miss Clements is our Science Co-ordinator/Subject Leader.

At St. Mary's, within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in Acorn and Chestnut (Nursery and Reception), Science is taught through 'Communication and Language', 'Personal, Social and Emotional Development' and 'Understanding the World', as found in the framework linked below:

Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage

The EYFS teach the following topics:

They use Kapow as a guide to support their teaching of the above areas:

From Birch class up to Oak class (Years 1-4), we teach the Science following the Science National Curriculum, as found in the link below:

Science Programmes of Study Key Stages 1 and 2

In Birch to Oak (Years 1-4), we follow White Rose Education's Science scheme of work, supplementing it with other schemes/resoures where necessary, to further enhance our Science lessons. 

Year 1:

Year 2:

Year 3:

Year 4:

We are also developing and nurturing children's 'Science Capital' - providing them with an understanding of how the science we teach in school links to the wider world,  making it relevant to them, including careers in the future, e.g. knowledge about animals can support someone to be a vet or a zoologist when they are older and how an understanding of materials could support someone to be a builder or architect.  

With the Government and the Department for Education aiming to support our world with the effects of climate change, the importance of educating children about sustainability becomes ever more significant. Each class, from Year 1 to Year 4 have two topics every year with a sustainability focus (indicated on the above schemes of learning with a little, green leaf). The aim of these topics are to further educate our children about what sustainability means, how we can be as sustainable as possible and to equip our children with skills and knowledge to thrive in our green economy and to help restore nature. We want to equip our children with the tools to be able to tackle climate change with confidence and determination. It is important to arm our children with the truth about climate change, but also with hope, through knowledge-rich education. We want them to have hope that they can be agents of change, through hands-on activities, to support them into adulthood and into a green career pathway, if that interests them.

Our Progression of Knowledge in Science document can be found here:

Science Progression Map

Impact:

All children are assessed in Science, by their teachers, on a termly basis. Children are also assessed at the end of each block of learning in an End of Block assessment, to further inform teachers of pupil understanding.  Miss Clements then analyses the attainment and progress of the whole school in this area.  This information informs future teaching and learning in Science.

The school was accredited with the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) in September 2021, in recognition of our, "effective, confident science leadership," resulting in, "whole school impact on science teaching and learning" with "examples of cross-curricular learning."