Science
Science
At Widewell Primary Academy we value every pupil and the contribution they have to make. We aim to ensure that every child achieves success and develops their skills. Science is both a key skill within school, and a life skill to be utilised throughout every person’s day-to-day experiences.
Intent
Our intention is to provide a high quality science education which provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. All children are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science.
Our aims in science are:
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To develop a love of science; to enthuse children and make learning fun.
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To build on children’s curiosity and sense of awe in the natural world and encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
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To ensure children experience all five scientific enquiries: observation, testing, research, classifying and identifying and pattern seeking by becoming scientists in the classroom.
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To encourage rich questioning which stimulates thinking and makes children want to find out the answers to ‘real life’ problems. Learning will be purposeful and cross-curricular links made for children to experience a range of concepts, in particular in maths, English, computing.
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To increase children’s scientific vocabulary and the language of science.
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To ensure children use a range of equipment accurately and safely through hands on investigations and observations.
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To develop learning in the outdoors; to increase children’s confidence and natural curiosity of the world around them.
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To give children varied opportunities and allow them to work as scientists. They can explore through hands on activities following their own lines of enquiry and child led investigations.
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To make sense of the world they live in and understand the processes and reasons why things happen: To understand and make a difference to the world e.g. how to look after the environment, how to stay fit and healthy.
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To develop a range of skills through the working scientifically strand of the curriculum: measuring, analysing, presenting and reasoning.
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To develop children’s aspirations of potential careers in science through talking about the work of scientists and how they can make a difference to others.
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To introduce STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) into the curriculum so that children can work on project based investigations which involve a range of skills across the curriculum.
Science enables pupils to be curious about things they observe, experience and explore the world about them with all of their senses. Science is important to develop their understanding of key scientific ideas and make links between different phenomena and seeking explanations and thinking critically about claims and ideas.
The National Curriculum for Science (2014) describes in detail what pupils must learn in each year group. This ensures continuity, progression and high expectations for attainment in science.
Implementation
Teachers have a positive attitude towards the teaching of relevant and progressive science in their classrooms. Learning is never capped but reinforces an ethos that all children are capable of achieving high standards embedded in quality first teaching.
Science is planned and taught to build upon previous learning and skills. Teachers have a deep understanding of where each child’s learning journey began and where it must lead. Teachers have the autonomy to adapt their teaching as required to cater for the individual needs of the children in their class.
Working scientifically skills are explicitly taught and embedded into lessons. These types of scientific enquiry include observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources.
Science is taught through practical and ‘hands on’ tasks performed by the class teacher as demonstrations or by the children to support their understanding of key concepts and phenomena. In turn, this equally helps the children to develop scientific hypothesises, use simple and more sophisticated scientific equipment and interpret results. A variety of new vocabulary and the use of quality scientific words are integral and are taught and developed throughout the children’s school career. Teachers ensure that they continually build upon these foundations.
Questioning is always constructive and effective; helping children to question their everyday understanding of the natural world and phenomena and move towards more abstract and complex concepts. Scientific ‘talk’ is also an imperative part of scientific lessons helping the child to debate compare and seeking others’ points of view.
The role of the subject leader is to ensure that science in the school is being taught according to the school’s policy and also ties in with the teaching and learning policy. They are to ensure that the subject remains current and falls within the aims of the school’s vision, aims and SIP.
Monitoring of the subject involves lesson observations, book scrutinies, learning walks, pupil conferencing, monitoring of science displays in class and around the school.
Impact
First and foremost, children at Widewell enjoy science! Our successful approach results in an engaging, practical and high-quality science curriculum, which provides the children with the skills and resources to learn about, discover and question the natural and human-constructed world around them and finally encounter more abstract ideas. In KS1, the use of varied first-hand experiences of the natural world around them ultimately enhances and creates the basis of strong foundations for KS2 to build onto so that more abstract concepts are easily questioned and decoded.