Science
Science
Intent
At Sandbach Primary Academy, we encourage children to discover and develop excitement and curiosity about the world around them and aim to instill a passion for the sciences. Science teaching at Sandbach Primary enables children to acquire key skills such as making predictions, observations, conclusions and designing and developing experiments. As children progress through the school, they build their scientific knowledge and are nurtured to develop greater independence in planning and carrying out fair and comparative tests, to answer a range of engaging scientific questions. The science scheme ensures that children have a varied, progressive and well-mapped-out science curriculum that provides the opportunity for progression across the full breadth of the science national curriculum for KS1 and KS2. We strive to develop inquisitive and enthusiastic scientists who experience excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena, which they carry with them throughout their lives.
Design and Implementation
At Sandbach Primary Academy, science is taught through a two-year rolling cycle across each key phase; EYFS, Key Stage 1, Lower Key stage 2and Upper Key Stage 2. The curriculum has been planned to enable effective progression and the exploitation of cross curricular links, with a balance of Biology, Physics and Chemistry teaching over each key phase.
Our curriculum is designed to:
- Inspire our children to work as scientists, through real-life enquiry, led by children
- Support children’s natural curiosity, progress their scientific enquiry skills and nurture their curiosity and knowledge
- Clearly identify and teach the specific disciplines of biology, physics and chemistry, allowing them to grow their knowledge of the three disciplines
- Develop children’s use of specialist vocabulary for topics, taught and built up over time, through use of effective questioning to communicate idea
- Promote understanding of the impact of significant scientists and discoveries throughout history
- Include opportunities for trips and visits from experts to enhance children’s learning
- Develop children’s knowledge of key scientists who have changed our world through linking scientific disciplines to associated scientists, for example: children find out about Mary Anning when learning about Fossils.
We aim to implement our intent by;
- maintaining a high level of subject knowledge of science in our school by regular training and professional development for class teachers and the subject lead
- Ensuring resources are sufficient, adequate and relevant to the learning
- Strongly encouraging and modelling to children how to use specific vocabulary found in our science vocabulary progression document
- Providing children with regular opportunities to develop strategies for questioning and thinking through discussions
- Conducting efficient, regular and effective assessments to inform future learning, with opportunities for moderation with colleagues
- The subject lead regularly monitoring and providing feedback on teaching, planning and children’s progress, interest and engagement
- Keeping SLT and governors up to date with developments in science with subject reports, action plans and review meetings
- Ensuring children have at least 60 minutes of Science each week
At Sandbach Primary Academy, science lessons begin with the sharing of which specific scientific discipline we will be focused on and a ‘bridging back’ discussion about what has been learned previously in this or previous units. This could be partner talk or whole class discussion. An engaging scientific question, designed to elicit curiosity and discussion, is then shared with the class. Children are encouraged to talk and share their thinking and prior knowledge in response to this, then suggest how we might find an answer through testing or investigation. The acquisition of key scientific knowledge and vocabulary is an integral part of our science lessons, where it is explicitly taught through high quality teaching, research and experimentation. The progression of skills for working scientifically are developed through the key stages with gradual release of teacher modelling, and scientific enquiry skills are of great importance within lessons. Each lesson, children are challenged to think independently and complete tasks and investigations designed to grow their knowledge and progress their scientific skillset. Activities are effectively differentiated so that all children have an appropriate level of support and challenge. Learning is reviewed with the children at the end of each lesson, and they are encouraged to share ideas, results and conclusions with the class.
As children move through the key phases, scientific knowledge and enquiry skills are developed with increasing depth and challenge. The sequence of lessons taught helps to embed scientific knowledge and skills, with each lesson building on previous learning, then growing across each key phase.