SCIENCE CURRICULUM

INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT

Intent

At Abbey, it is our intention to recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of daily life. We want to give every child a broad and balanced Science curriculum which enables them to confidently explore, discover and understand the world around them.

In line with our school vision ‘Love, Laugh, Learn- walking with Jesus to life in all it’s fullness and helping all of our children to shine brightly in all that they do’, we want our children to love and enjoy Science and learn to their full potential.  

We want our children to remember these Science lessons and to cherish these memories and embrace the scientific opportunities that they are presented with.

To achieve all of this we provide exciting, practical experiences that encourage curiosity, awe and wonder. Our aim is that these experiences will help to extend and secure their scientific knowledge, understanding and vocabulary as well as promoting a love for this subject.

We have designed our Science curriculum to ensure that fundamental areas of learning are built upon and developed each year to allow our children to have a secure understanding of key Scientific concepts. We want to equip our children with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the science National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

Implementation

We use the Oak National Academy scheme of work as a basis for our Science curriculum. This ensures that a clear progression of knowledge, skills and vocabulary is evident throughout each child’s Science learning journey across the school.

Key Stage 1

At Abbey, Science topics are taught within each year group in accordance with the National Curriculum.

• Topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth.
• Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills.
• Children use a range of resources to develop their knowledge and understanding of both topics and working scientifically.
• Children explore, question, predict, plan, carry out investigations and observations as well as conclude their findings.
• Children have access to key language and meanings in order to understand and readily apply to their written, mathematical and verbal communication of their skills.
• At the start of each topic children will review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know about a current topic.
• Teachers use highly effective assessment for learning in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed.
• Attainment will be assessed each half term through related topic assessment tasks.
• Effective use of education visits and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the Science curriculum.
• Cross-curricular links in Maths and English are made wherever possible.
• Where applicable links to Science will be made to develop the children’s topical learning.

Early Years

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum supports children’s understanding of Science through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World.’ Children find out about objects, materials and living things using all of their senses looking at similarities, differences, patterns and change.

Both the environment and skilled practitioners foster curiosity and encourage explorative play. Children are motivated to ask questions about why things happen and how things work.

Our children are encouraged to use their natural environment around them to explore. Children enjoy spending time outdoors exploring mini-beasts and their habitats, observing the changing seasons, plants and animals. Children participate in cookery and baking sessions which allows them to experience changes in state as ingredients are mixed, heated and cooled.

Impact

The impact of this curriculum design will lead to outstanding progress over time, across key stages, relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Most children will leave Abbey having reached age related expectations in Science at the end of their cohort year.

Through our teaching, trips and experiences our children will retain and reflect knowledge, question ideas and become enthusiastic Science learners. Our children will be able to work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment. They will be able to explain processes and be able to reason scientifically. They will understand the vital role that Science plays in everyday life.

Most importantly we want to empower our children so they understand they can do and become anything they want to, and shine brightly throughout life!

The children enjoy discovering new things and exploring the world around them. In the Early Years there is a strong focus on exploring the natural world that we live in and the children get lots of opportunities to experience the changing seasons and weather. We also do lots of focused experiments and investigations and the children love finding out new things this way.