Science

Curriculum Statement

Intent

We offer a range of topics, covering all aspects of knowledge and skills of the cornerstones curriculum and the skills required to meet the aims of the national curriculum. By promoting an enquiry-based approach to Sceince, this allows our children the chance to question and consider, and debate and discover what is occurring to themselves and the wider world now, and be able to predict how things might behave in the future. We believe science education provides the foundations for understanding the world as well as how this subject has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children will become confident and proficient in conducting investigations as well as having a broad science knowledge across all lements of the curriculum. Children will also develop their interest and curiosity about Science through a series of lessons offering skills progression, knowledge progression and offering children the opportunity to ask questions and demonstrate their skills in a variety of ways. The topics offer the chance for children to develop scientific enquiry through Science  and the world around them to further enhance their personal, social and emotional development and cultural appreciation.

The aims of teaching Science in our school are:

• To engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, investigate and observe  the world around them.
• As pupils progress through school, they should begin to think critically and develop a more rigorous understanding of Science. They should also know how Science reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.
• To produce investigative and enquiry work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.
• To become proficient in scientific enquiry and the understanding of the world around them
• To evaluate and analyse  science investigation using the language of Science,
• To know about Scientists and the contribution they have made to discoveries and scientific principles. 

Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

   At St Margaret Mary our aims are:

• To ensure full entitlement and access to high quality education within a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum;

• To identify barriers to learning as early as possible;

• To reach high levels of achievement for all so that children can reach their full potential;

• To meet individual needs through a wide range of provision, providing differentiation that aims to remove any barriers to learning;

• Where children are underachieving and/or identified as having special educational needs, the school provides for these additional needs in a variety of ways and might use a combination of these approaches to address targets identified for individual pupils:

• High quality teaching is our first step in responding to pupils who have SEN. This will be differentiated for individual pupils.

• Other small group work;

• Class  and individual support where possible;

• Further differentiation of resources.

 Any children with identified SEND, have an EHCP or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work     additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs.   As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of   opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting   points.

 Implementation

 Science is taught through our Cornerstones Curriculum and supplemented with STEM learning. It is   planned to ensure progression of skills and knowledge. Each year group covers all areas of the National   Curriculum through the Cornerstones projects.

  At St Margaret Mary, all children from Year One upwards have their own Science book which they build   upon and add to throughout each year. This allows the children to expand their knowledge of Science and   to plan, carry out and evaluate investigations.

 The sequencing of projects ensures that children have the substantive knowledge and vocabulary to   comprehend subsequent projects fully. Each project’s place in the year has also been carefully considered.   For example, projects that involve growing plants or observing animals are positioned at a suitable time of   year to give children the best possible opportunity to make first-hand observations. Within all the science   projects, disciplinary knowledge is embedded within substantive content.

EYFS

  Science at Foundation Stage is covered in the ‘Understanding the World’ area of the EYFS Curriculum,   which is covered through different Cornerstones Projects. It is introduced indirectly through activities that   encourage every child to explore, problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions and talk about the   world around them.  During their first years at school our children will explore creatures, people, plants and   objects in their natural environments.  They will observe and manipulate objects and materials to identify   differences and similarities. They will also learn to use their senses, feeling dough or listening to sounds in   the environment, such as sirens or farm animals. They will make observations of animals and plants and   explain why some things occur and talk about changes. Children will be encouraged to ask questions   about why things happen and how things work. They might do activities such as increasing the incline of a   slope to observe how fast a vehicle travels, or opening a mechanical toy to see how it works. Children will   also be asked questions about what they think will happen to help them communicate, plan, investigate,   record and evaluate findings.

Key Stage 1

  In Year 1, children start the autumn term with Everyday Materials, linking this learning to the design and technology   project Shade and Shelter. In the Human Senses project, they learn about parts of the human body and those   associated with the senses. In the spring project Seasonal Changes, they learn broadly about seasonal changes   linked to weather, living things and day length. They revisit some of this learning in the following summer term project   Plant Parts. They finish with the project Animal Parts, linking back to their knowledge about body parts and senses   and identifying commonalities. In Year 2, children begin the autumn term with the project Human Survival, learning   about the survival needs of humans, before expanding to study animals within their habitats in the project Habitats.   Building on learning from Year 1, children learn about the uses of materials in the spring project Uses of Materials   and begin to understand changes of materials through simple physical manipulation, such as bending and twisting.   The spring Plant Survival project also explores survival, with children observing what plants need to grow and stay   healthy. Finally, in the project Animal Survival, children bring together learning from the autumn term, thinking about   what animals need to survive.

Lower Key Stage 2

 Having learned about human body parts, the senses and survival in Key Stage 1, children now focus on   specific body systems and nutrition in Key Stage 2. In the autumn term of Year 3, they learn about the   skeletal and muscular system in the project Skeletal and Muscular Systems. This learning again links to   other animals, with children identifying similarities and differences. Children also learn about healthy diets   alongside the autumn term design and technology project Cook Well, Eatwell. In the spring term,   properties of materials are revisited in the project Forces and Magnets, with children identifying magnetic   materials and learning about the non-contact force of magnetism. They also begin to learn about contact   forces, investigating how things move over surfaces. Science learning about rocks and soils is delivered   through the geography project Rocks, Relics and Rumbles. Children begin to link structure to function in   the summer Plant Nutrition and Reproduction project, identifying the plant parts associated with   reproduction and water transport. Children finish the year with the project Light and Shadows, where they   are explicitly introduced to the subject of light, with children learning about shadows and reflections,   revisiting language from Key Stage 1, including opaque and transparent. In the autumn term of Year 4,   children learn about the digestive system, again making comparisons to other animals, in the project   Digestive System. The second autumn term project Sound introduces the concept of sound, with children   identifying how sounds are made and travel. They learn and use new vocabulary, such as pitch and   volume, and identify properties of materials associated with these concepts. In the spring term project   States of Matter, children learn about solids, liquids and gases and their characteristics. They understand   how temperature drives change of state and link this learning to the project Misty Mountain, Winding River,   in which children learn about the water cycle. Up to this point, children have had many opportunities for   grouping and sorting living things. In the spring project Grouping and Classifying, children recognise this as   ‘classification’ and explore classification keys. Finally, in the summer term, children study electricity by   creating and recording simple circuits in the project Electrical Circuits and Conductors. They also build on   their knowledge of the properties of materials, identifying electrical conductors and insulators.

 Upper Key Stage 2

 In the autumn term of Year 5, children broaden their knowledge of forces, including gravity and air and   water resistance, in the project Forces and Mechanisms. They revisit learning from design and technology   projects, including Making It Move and Moving Mechanisms, to explore various mechanisms and their   uses. Their knowledge of gravity supports the autumn term project Earth and Space, so they can   understand the forces that shape planets and our solar system. They also develop their understanding of   day and night, first explored in the Year 1 project Seasonal Changes. Having learned that animals and   plants produce offspring in earlier projects and studied plant and animal life cycles in Sow, Grow and Farm,   children now focus on the human life cycle and sexual reproduction in the spring term project Human   Reproduction and Ageing. In the summer term project Properties and Changes of Materials, children revisit   much of their prior learning about materials’ properties and learn new properties, including thermal   conductivity and solubility. To this point, children have learned much about reversible changes, such as   melting and freezing, but now extend their learning to irreversible changes, including chemical changes. In   Year 6, the final body system children learn about is the circulatory system and its roles in transporting   water, nutrients and gases in the autumn term project Circulatory System. Science learning about   classification is delivered through the spring term geography project Frozen Kingdoms. In the spring term,   children also build on their knowledge about electrical circuits from Year 4, now learning and recording   standard symbols for circuit components and investigating the function of components and the effects of   voltage on a circuit in the project Electrical Circuits and Components. In the summer project Light Theory,   children recognise that light travels in straight lines from a source or reflector to the eye and explain the   shape of shadows. Finally, in the project Evolution and Inheritance, children learn about inheritance and   understand why offspring are not identical to their parents. They also learn about natural selection and how   this can lead to the evolution of a species.

 Investigations, Knowledge Organisers, and key vocabulary are supplemented with STEM learning as it   allows children to have a clear understanding of how to carry out investigations. This is introduced in Y2   and investigation terminology such as independent variable, dependant variable, control variables,   hypothesis, evaluation and data analysis is built upon as children journey throughout the school. This   allows independent investigative work which children will be proficient in by the time they leave in Y6,   preparing them for KS3 and beyond.

 Enrichment days and cross curricular learning trips also supplement our Science curriculum allowing all   children to experience the world around them. For example, Y4 and Y6 have outside agencies in to look at   electricity and the water cycle. Children in the Early Years have chicks and caterpillars delivered to explore   how things grow. As part of their ‘Grow, Sow and Farm’ module, Y5 visit a local farm to look at habitats and   life cycles.

Impact

Science learning is loved by teachers and pupils across our school. Teachers have high expectations where quality of evidence can be presented in a variety of ways. Children are given opportunities to explore Science about the world around them. All children use technical vocabulary accurately and pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified. Children are confident using a range of materials for investigations and can talk about how Science and Scientists have made an impact on our everchanging global society. Children improve their enquiry skills and inquisitiveness about the world around them, and their impact through Science and design on the world. Children will become more confident in analysing their work and giving their opinion on their own experiments and investigations. Children show competences in improving their resilience and perseverance by continually evaluating and improving their work. All children in school can speak confidently about their Science work and their skills and can showcase these to the wider community.

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Assessing children’s understanding of topic linked vocabulary before and after the topic is taught.

• Summative teacher assessment of pupil discussions about their learning.

• Images and videos of the children’s practical learning.

• Interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice).

• Moderation cluster meetings where pupil’s books are scrutinised and there is the opportunity for a dialogue between teachers and schools to understand their children’s work

• Annual reporting of standards across the curriculum.

• recording attainment on Cornerstones.

. Constant professional dialogue between colleagues about the attainment of pupils.