Our Curriculum

Science

“Science is a way of life. It is a perspective. Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that’s precise, predictive, and reliable – a transformation, for those lucky enough to experience it, that is empowering and emotional.”

Why we teach your child Science:

Science helps us understand how the world works – it helps us answer and consider some of life’s greatest questions. We want your child to develop a secure understanding of biology, physics and chemistry as well as how to work and think scientifically. By teaching your child science in primary school, we inspire them to continue enjoying these subjects as they enter KS3 and hope many of them see an element of science in a future career.

What our curriculum looks like:

Our science curriculum is ambitious and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from the National Curriculum and the Early Years Framework we have carefully sequenced our science curriculum so children learn in a logical step by step manner.

In science we have carefully considered our macro concepts and our curriculum is sequenced so children’s schemata grows through the connection of new knowledge with previous knowledge.

We have mapped our curriculum, carefully considering some of the following:

  • What scientific experiences to children have in EYFS that we can build on?
  • How are the components of physics, chemistry and biology developed overtime?
  • How do our children become better at working scientifically?
  • Is the curriculum planned in accessible step-by-step manner so all children can build on previous learning?
  • What misconceptions might children have?
  • Are we enabling children to remember what is most important?
  • How do trips help enhance science learning?

Our science curriculum long-term plan can be found below:

This is underpinned by a medium-term plan which set out the core knowledge and skills children will be learning in their learning.

Each unit of learning begins with a ‘thinking square’ which assesses the existing knowledge and misconceptions children may have against the core knowledge they need to learn and informs the teaching of that unit. At the end of each unit children will revisit this thinking square to build on existing knowledge and apply what they have learnt. Additionally, children will complete a ‘conceptual’ question which challenges them to apply their new learning in a more open geographical context – this supports children to retain what they have learnt.

How we teach science:

As with every subject, we recognise what makes science unique and as a result make pedagogical choices to ensure teaching is the best it can possibly be. We use a range of different resources to support the effective teaching of science and encourage our pupils to develop their scientific thinking. We have captured our pedagogical choice for science in our science principles which can be seen below:

How you can help your child at home:

  • Why not visit the science museum – it is free of charge and has a great range of exhibits to excite your children and develop their scientific curiousity.
  • BBC bitesize has a great range of resources to support science – you can find KS2 resources here and KS1 resources here.
  • Go on walks with your child and encourage them to ask questions which might develop their scientific knowledge – some questions you could ask include: Why do you think the trees have no leaves at this time of the year? How can we keep our plants alive? What could we cook together to make a healthy dinner? How do the lights in our house get electricity?
  • STEM has a range of home activities which you can find here.
Implementation

Teachers plan the following:

  • A knowledge organiser which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master 
  • A sequence of learning
  • A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth 
  • Low stakes quizzes which are used regularly to support learners’ ability to retrieve and recall knowledge and increase space in the working memory 
  • Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner   
  • Trips and visits from experts who will enhance the learning experience  
Impact

Assessing impact is assessing how well pupils have learned the required knowledge from the implemented curriculum. It is not about lots of tests, or meticulously comparing pupils’ outcomes at the start and end of each unit.

If pupils can keep up with a well-sequenced curriculum that has progression built in, they are making progress!

The United Curriculum has this progression built in, and so teachers and subject leads just need to be confident that pupils are keeping up with it.

This can be done through:

Formative assessment in lessons

There are opportunities for formative assessment in the lesson slides provided, and teachers should continually adapt their lesson delivery to address misconceptions and ensure that pupils are keeping up with the content.

Low-stakes summative assessment

A post-learning quiz is provided for every unit. These questions usually take the form of multiple-choice questions, and aim to assess whether pupils have learned the core knowledge for that unit. These should also be used formatively, and teachers should plan to fill gaps and address misconceptions before moving on.

Books and pupil-conferencing

Talking to pupils about their books allows you to assess how much of the curriculum content is secure. These conversations are used most effectively to determine whether pupils have a good understanding of the vertical concepts, and if they can link recently taught content to learning from previous units. (They should not be used to assess whether pupils can recall information, as low-stakes quizzes can gather this information more efficiently).