Intent
At Wouldham All Saints Church of England Primary School, we recognise how Science impacts every aspect of daily life, and without science humankind would not have made progress throughout history. As one of the core subjects taught at primary level, Science is taught in a way that will allow all children to make informed decisions and choices throughout their lives. We do this by fostering and maintaining a curiosity for scientific enquiry throughout their time at Wouldham All Saints School.
Our Science curriculum is based on the September 2013 Science National Curriculum for Key Stages 1 & 2, along with parts of the Early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework for Reception.
Our vision is for Science to be, Accessible to all, where it is inclusive and irrelevant of needs. Memorable to support progression throughout the school in both skills and knowledge. Whilst also being Practical to ensure that it is fun, relevant and meaningful (AMP).
We endeavour to ensure that by the end of Key Stage 2, the Science curriculum we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills at into the next stage of their education and life experiences.
We know that the best way to ensure this happens, is through teaching Science in a well-sequenced curriculum to enable revisiting of core knowledge and skills to deepen their understanding. Therefore, units of work are carefully chosen to enable accumulation of learning in building blocks that allows progress in repeated topics through the year groups.
Please see our whole school knowledge progression document which outlines how the key knowledge is developed, revisited and built upon across the school.
Implementation
Using the requirements on the Science National Curriculum, teachers create a positive attitude to Science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all children can achieve high standards in Science. To support this vision we ensure that:
- Children have weekly lessons in Science throughout the school.
- In Early years, Science is taught by children learning through time to explore and outdoor learning.
- We start our lessons with retrieval practice questions to identify misconceptions and assess prior knowledge.
- Regularly, teachers formatively assess the children to identify those with gaps in their knowledge, so that all children can keep up.
- Children are encouraged to reflect on their learning after each lesson with a WILT (What I Learnt Today) to recall new vocabulary and challenging concepts that have been introduced through direct teaching.
- Through our planning, engaging lessons are created, with each lesson have both practical and theoretical elements.
- Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment safely and allow the children opportunities to problem solve and investigate the answers themselves through various methods of enquiry.
- Our students are taught that scientists are a diverse group of people, who do a variety of jobs and come from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Impact
Our approach is aimed at creating fun, engaging, high-quality lessons that provide children with the foundations for understanding the natural world. We endeavour for children to have the understanding that Science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. The impact of learning will be assessed using;
- Formative assessment and teacher judgement as the main tool for assessing the impact of Science, as it allows for misconceptions and gaps to be addressed more immediately rather than building on incorrect scientific foundations.
- Pupil voice to assess whether they are able to articulate their knowledge with confidence and to suggest improvements to their own work.
- Inspection of pupil work via book looks and learning walks.
- Questionnaires to staff and pupils to further develop the Science curriculum, through questioning regarding attitudes and enjoyment of Science, in order to support our planning, and to continue motivating learners throughout the school.
