SCIENCE CURRICULUM STATEMENT

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.”

Albert Szent-Györgyi

INTENT

What will take place prior to classroom teaching?

IMPLEMENTATION

What will our science provision look like in the classroom?

IMPACT

What will be achieved as a result of our science curriculum teaching?

The senior leadership team will:

· lead the school staff to develop a clear progressive curriculum which drives the ongoing development and improvement science teaching provision.

· ensure that the curriculum leader has appropriate time to develop and monitor the provision of the science curriculum throughout the school.

· provide sufficient funding to ensure that implementation is high quality.

Our teaching and learning provision in Science:

 · Links to previously taught skills within the science area of study ready to build on these.

· Provides opportunity to explore and investigate whilst giving the children the knowledge and information linked to their work.

 · Specifies key vocabulary to be used and its meaning.

· Enables children to work interactively with the teacher acting as the facilitator. · Give ongoing opportunities to apply learned facts in practical investigations.

The broad and balanced curriculum ensures that pupils are:

· Engaged and excited in their scientific learning

· Able to make careful observations during practical work, question what has happened and take ideas further through their own investigations, linking this to theoretical knowledge.

 · Resilient when an idea does not work in order to refine ideas, try again and ask interpretative questions.

· Able to apply scientific knowledge to what they have discovered and build on this knowledge over a period of time.

Our children will have:

 · A developed understanding of scientific knowledge and skills of children at an age appropriate level throughout the school.

 · A secure understanding of the key techniques and vocabulary used for each key area of the science curriculum.

· Confidence in discussing science knowledge and understanding, their own work and in identifying their own strengths and areas for development.

The science subject leader will:

· understand and articulate the expectations of the curriculum to support teaching and classroom support staff in the delivery.

· ensure an appropriate progression of scientific skills and knowledge is in place over time so that pupils are supported to be the best that they can be, and guide teachers in providing support for children where necessary and extend the most able.

· ensure an appropriate progression for vocabulary is in place for each phase of learning, which builds on prior learning.

Pupils will be:

· Independent thinkers, able to question what has happened and take ideas further through their own investigations.

 · Resilient in discovering that when an idea does not work to try again or question why it didn’t work.

· Able to apply acquired scientific knowledge to what they have discovered and build on this knowledge over a period of time.

· Confident in sharing their knowledge and understanding in all areas of the Primary National Curriculum for Science (Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2).

· Apply to apply the scientific knowledge that they have acquired in their studies, using this to plan and participate in practical investigative work, and draw conclusions from their own findings.

· Able to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of their own work, making suggestions for improvements.

The class teacher will:

· create a long-term plan which ensures appropriate coverage of knowledge, skills and vocabulary from the progression grid.

· ensure confidence in their own subject knowledge and skills prior to teaching.

· ensure that resources are appropriate, of high enough quality and are plentiful so that all pupils have the correct tools and materials.

The science subject leader will:

· collate appropriate evidence over time which evidences that pupils know more and remember more 

· monitor the standards in the subject to ensure the outcomes are at expected levels

· provide ongoing CPD support based on the outcomes of subject monitoring to ensure that the impact of this development.

Reception

• Be able to make observations of animals and plants, explain why some things occur and talk about changes.

Year 1

Weather & Seasons

• Observe changes across the four seasons; observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies.

Plants

• Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees; identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

Year 2

Materials

• Introduce different ways of changing the shapes of objects made from different materials.
• Identify materials that can be changed by the actions of squashing, bending, twisting and stretching, and link these actions with the properties of the materials that allow them to be changed.
• Discover that some materials have different properties according to how they are shaped and what they are made into, and choose materials for uses according to their properties. Learn that pushes and pulls can cause movement or a change in shape. Children apply their knowledge by making clay models and catapults.

Years 3 & 4

Electricity

• Identify electrical appliances, distinguishing between those which are powered by mains and battery (including those with integral rechargeable batteries)
• Recognising that electricity can be used to produce light, sound, heat and movement; explore the production of light, sound and movement by making simple series circuits with cells, wires, bulbs, buzzers and motors, learning the names of the components
• Describe the flow of electricity round a circuit and give reasons why some circuits do not work
• Learn to control their circuits with switches; test materials, classify them as electrical conductors or insulators and recognise that metals are good electrical conductors and plastics are good electrical insulators; apply this knowledge when making their own switches and electrical quiz boards; learn the safe use of electrical components and the dangers of mains electricity.

Animals Including Humans

• Revisit the importance of eating the right amounts of different types of food, but extend this knowledge to understand that the food we eat provides us with the nutrition that our bodies require to remain healthy
• Learn about the range of nutrients that humans need to consume in the correct amounts and the role that these nutrients play in keeping our bodies healthy; learn that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.

Years 5 & 6

Animals including Humans

• Identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• When working scientifically, children will use secondary sources of information with increasing independence in order to find answers to questions about the functions of different parts of the circulatory system that they cannot investigate first hand. They will question local medical experts.

Evolution & Inheritance

• Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
• Recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
• Identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.
• When working scientifically, children take measurements to record variation in plants and animals; they use scientific models to describe complex processes such as selective breeding and natural selection, they question themselves and their peers on aspects of adaptation, and they develop their skills for evaluating evidence.