Science
The Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Curriculum.
Intent
“Scientific enquiry is what children do in order to answer questions about the world around them” Turner et al (2011)
At Smallberry Green we believe that our science curriculum should be ambitious and fully inclusive for our diverse groups of learners. We aim to ensure that all children are equipped with the scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. We encourage children to foster a healthy curiosity in the world around them and to be inquisitive throughout their time at school and beyond. As well as the application and development of the Working Scientifically skills, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group. Children develop wider personal skills and use our school values, such as communication, confidence, the ability to challenge what they hear, resilience and a sense of place in the world and stewardship, the ability to make positive change.
Implementation
Teachers at Smallberry Green create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following;
- Science is taught consistently, passionately and enthusiastically, once a week for approximately two hours, but is discretely taught in many different contexts throughout all areas of the curriculum. For example, through reading and writing, i.e. cold texts, writing a letter to a local politician regarding the closure of a park/biography of a famous scientist’s life, etc.
- Lessons are planned to achieve specific outcomes related to scientific enquiry, so that children are clear about what and how they are learning, and that these outcomes are transferable to different contexts
- Starting in Early Years lessons involve a range of problem-solving opportunities that allow children to find out for themselves. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers.
- Learning about scientific enquiry should be integral to learning scientific content, such as learning about cells, or elements or circuits.
- Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess children regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all children keep up. Weekly topic quizzes have been introduced to address retention in a fun and engaging way.
- Teachers all follow a carefully planned scheme of work from WhiteRose. End of block assessments take place for each topic throughout the year.
- We build upon the learning and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, and they become more proficient in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence.
- Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. This is developed through the years, in-keeping with the topics.
- Children are offered a wide range of trips and visits and visitors to broaden and complement the curriculum. We aim to provide them with ambition to study STEM subjects further and think about their future careers.
- Children learn about the work of famous scientists and develop a fascination with science that encourages them to become scientists themselves, acquiring a life-long passion for science.
- Frequent whole school events such as Science Week, C8 Science days, STEM week and outdoor lessons allow the children to come off-timetable and enables different groups of children to acquire different knowledge and skills.
- With the increased push towards a STEM education being at the forefront of conversations about education today we have taken feedback from pupil conferencing and looked to be able to join science, maths and DT more.
Impact
The way we teach science at Smallberry Green results in a consistently high-quality, fun and engaging education in science. It provides our children with the strong foundations for a greater understanding of the world around them and an ambitious approach to learning and enquiry that our children will continue to use as they move on to secondary school and beyond. Children at Smallberry Green have a love of science, a good knowledge of scientific facts and vocabulary and can explain and discuss scientific enquiry confidently. They have harboured a love of the subject from their enthusiastic teachers that means many of them take an interest in their science learning outside of school and see it as something they value and wish to take forward in the educational careers.
Whole School Science Curriculum map