Science

Statement of Intent for science teaching at SS. Peter and Paul Primary School.

At SS. Peter and Paul Primary school we want our children to be naturally curious about the world around them, to develop a sense of wonder about the natural world as well as to learn and understand about the changes that are happening to our world globally and locally. Our curriculum has been developed to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum enabling children to acquire the science specific skills and knowledge.

We want our children to

• understand what scientist is and how science relates to the real world.
• discover and find answers to real life questions.
• to develop an understanding of the uses and implications of science today and for the future.
• to develop and build on their knowledge and understanding of science concepts as they move through the key stages from EYFS to Year 6.
• to develop science skills and show progression in the skills as they move through the key stages.
• to learn, understand and use scientific vocabulary appropriately.
• to use real resources and engage in outdoor learning where appropriate.
• to interact with each other, collaborate and cooperate as they learn.
• be ‘hands on’, ‘engaged’ and have fun learning science.
• to make links with their science knowledge and other curriculum areas.
• Develop Science capital- share their knowledge of science and learn about science from experts who visit school and through educational visits.

Implementation

How Science is taught at SS. Peter and Paul:

We plan lessons for each science topic ensuring progression, depth and full coverage of National Curriculum programmes of study for Science and the Early Learning Goal ‘Understanding of the World’ for Early Years Foundation Stage. Wherever possible, Science is linked to class topics. We have long term and medium- term plans in science. The long -term plan maps the science topics studied in each term. Our medium- term plans give details of each unit of work for each term. These plans are reviewed annually.

At the start of each topic teachers find out what our children already know and lessons are planned to build on this learning. For example, topics such as ‘plants’ are introduced in EYFS, taught in Key Stage one and studied again in further detail in Key Stage 2. This allows children to reinforce their knowledge and build on and extend existing knowledge.

It is important that the skills in science are taught and progression occurs from EYFS to Upper Key Stage 2. In our school we use an adaptation of the CIEC (Centre for Industry Education Collaboration) Skills Progression Table for science.

 Each classroom displays a child friendly version of the skills so the children can refer to these during science lessons and use them as an assessment tool.

Key scientific language and vocabulary is displayed in class, modelled, taught and reinforced throughout lessons enabling our children to be familiar with and use vocabulary accurately. Teachers are also encouraged to plan trips and educational visits to enhance our children’s learning experience.

We assess children’s understanding at the end of a science unit. To guide our assessments we use the assessment resources from TAPS (teacher assessment in Primary Science-developed by Bath Spa University and specifically designed to assist teachers to assess children’s understanding when working scientifically).

Teachers are encouraged two thirds of the way through a science topic to have a ‘pit stop’ lesson/ quiz or game which ascertains which children have understood the concepts taught and can be challenged further or pursue their own research and which children are still working towards fuller understanding of the concepts and require further explanation or small group work teaching to secure their understanding.

Attainment is tracked against National Curriculum expectations for Knowledge and Understanding and Working Scientifically skills. At the end of each unit studied teachers assess the children who are at the ‘expected level’ those who are ‘working towards expected’ and those who have ‘exceeded the expectations’ for Knowledge and Understanding and Working Scientifically. This information is used by the teacher to address any issues in the next topic covered and is reported to the next teacher at the end of the year so any gaps in learning can be addressed.

Each Year we take part each year in a STEM science project in collaboration with other schools. The teachers and children plan and work together as a whole school on an exciting project and competition which has a theme linked to a global or local issue. The winners from each Key Stage represent our school in an inter-school competition. This project enables teachers to plan collaboratively and is a fun way of involving the whole school in developing awareness of science and global issues. Previous projects have included how we deal with the problem of plastic pollution in the oceans and looking at the problem of deforestation in rainforests. This year we are looking at projects related to living on Mars and will be investigating travel and growing food and plants in a sustainable way.