What Is Our Vision?
At St Helen's we believe that science enables children to understand the everchanging world around them. Science has, and continues to shape the way we live and is vital to the world’s future prosperity.
From EYFS, children foster a healthy curiosity in the world, with investigation through play, and develop a respect for the living and non-living. These key attributes are embedded in our pupils and carried forward to scientific subject specific learning.
We recognise that science is a key aspect of the curriculum and that while many aspects are taught in isolation. We do make links to other areas of the curriculum where appropriate such as learning about the effects of exercise on the human body in PE or creating healthy meals in design technology.
Our Approach
We have designed a bespoke long term plan for science which enables us to cover the full range of scientific learning throughout each key stage. Each term focuses on one of the different scientific disciplines of physics, biology and chemistry.
Science is taught across each year group in modules that allow pupils to study key scientific understanding, skills and vocabulary in depth. Each module builds upon prior learning and is sequenced to aid the acquisition and retention of key scientific knowledge. Modules are accompanied by knowledge organisers which provide an overview of the key vocabulary, information and concepts pupils are expected to understand and retain.
Throughout the year scientific enquiries are planned to allow the children opportunities to work scientifically and expand their knowledge of a given subject by asking questions and planning, carrying out experiments, collecting and analysing data and subsequently drawing conclusions.
Curriculum Impact
The implementation of this curriculum will ensure pupils at St Helen's experience an engaging, fun and high-quality science education. Pupils will understand the uses and implications of science, and draw upon this to answer questions about the current world and that of the future.
Through investigations children will develop their own scientific understanding where they will pose and investigate their own enquiry questions. Through these lessons children will develop transferrable skills such as collaboration, observational skills and the ability to pose and work out ways to find answers to their own questions. In this way children will be equipped with the scientific knowledge to make informed choices about their own lives and their impact on the environment.
We will measure the impact of science through:
- Pupil attainment data
- Pupil voice
- Learning walks
- Lesson observations
- Work scrutinies
In our science lessons some of the things you will see are:
- High expectations for pupil outcomes.
- Children planning and carrying out scientific enquiries.
- Children collecting and analysing data from experiments and using this data to draw conclusions.
- Pupils developing questioning skills.
- Pupils returning to prior learning.
- Pupils developing new knowledge and integrating this with their previous understanding of topics
Credits:
Created with images by lotus_studio - "microscope with lab glassware, science laboratory research and development concept" • WavebreakMediaMicro - "Pupils doing science " • Monkey Business - "Schoolchildren in a science class"