Subject Leader – Mr Churchill
INTENT
At Easington C of E Primary School, we aim for all of our wonderful children to develop the roots to grow and the wings to fly. It is our vision to instil a lifelong love of science within our pupils. We also aim for our children to appreciate and understand that science has changed our lives and is vital to our world’s future prosperity. Furthermore, we aim to inspire in pupil’s a curiosity and wonder about the natural and man-made world and a respect for the environment that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the Nation Curriculum for science; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of knowledge, skills and vocabulary. We will provide a bespoke, rich and varied science curriculum to challenge and meet the needs of our children.
From EYFS up to KS2 our children will build up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts. We will encourage our children to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. We will enrich children’s experiences by providing opportunities for educational visits and inviting visitors into school.
IMPLEMENTATION
Teaching and Learning of science in EYFS:
In the Foundation Stage, science is covered through part of the ‘Understanding of the World’ area of the EYFS Curriculum. Our EYFS Understanding of the world curriculum has been accurately and specifically planned to allow children to think, explore, observe, experience and understand processes to enable them make sense of the natural world around them.
Our EYFS curriculum allows our children to:
Non-fiction texts, and stories introduce new concepts and vocabulary. They are chosen carefully in EYFS and this helps children to anchor their learning. This allows children to draw on what they have read in class to support their learning across the curriculum. The element of ‘Seasons’ features heavily in our EYFS curriculum across the course of the academic year-this learning is planned explicitly though the use of identified texts, experiences (such as walks, visits etc) and investigations.
Our EYFS Outdoor Provision is utilised to facilitate this process alongside local educational visits. Our children participate in walks to the village, trips to the farm and visits to our local garden centre and nature park where they can observe contrasting environments to school and where they are encouraged to embrace the wonder of the natural world. Our Understanding of the world curriculum also caters for the children’s own interests and fascinations these are explored by the children throughout the course of the year. By having this approach, this ensures that each of our EYFS cohorts are as well prepared as possible to enter the next stage of their education.
ELG: The Natural World Children at the expected level of development will:
-Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants;
– Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
– Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
Year 1 – 6:
Teaching Time:
Science is taught on a weekly basis over the course of a whole morning. This means each cohort in school receives 120 minutes of science per week
Planning
Teaching Time:
38 school weeks of 120-minute weekly sessions.
Teaching and Learning
At Easington C of E, the teaching of science takes place through a two-year cycle, which clearly stipulates how the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum will be delivered to each cohort. The two-year cycle is required as the ‘mix’ of some classes in school alters from year to year based on the numbers of children entering and exiting the school. The aim of the cycle is to be able to ensure that all children are given access to scientific experiences and are accurately taught all of the Key Stage specific requirements and to ensure progression of knowledge for each cohort.
In Easington Church of England Primary, one element of the teaching of science that we feel passionately about is that each separate strand (biology, chemistry and physics) of science is identified and that this is made explicit to the children. By doing this, we believe that it helps children identify science as a multi-faceted subject that is comprised of distinct branches of knowledge and skills which all combine together to create the subject ‘science’. For children in Key Stage Two, it is hoped that this approach helps anchor knowledge in each discipline so transition to Key Stage Three would be more straightforward and the vocabulary used to refer to subjects does not impose a barrier or obstacle to successful learning beyond the walls of Easington Church of England Primary School.
Our progression of knowledge and skills documents, which weaves the essential thread of Working Scientifically throughout, are used to plan each science unit. Using these documents ensures that curriculum coverage is accurate and children have opportunities to build upon prior knowledge. When teaching science, children’s interests are always considered to ensure their learning is engaging, real and relevant. Teaching key scientific vocabulary is also a key part of our science curriculum. This vocabulary is identified for every science unit in a progression document and it highlights how vocabulary previously taught is built upon in each unit.
During each science unit children’s learning will be assessed for all key objectives. Documents will be completed to show whether children are working at the expected standard and evidence is gathered to accurately support these judgements. These documents are a record of each child’s progress every year.
Staff C.P.D:
It is of vital importance that staff are secure in their subject knowledge in all subjects. With regard to science, staff are given regular CPD opportunities that specifically pertain to the unit of scientific knowledge that they are delivering. It is crucial that the CPD refresher takes place before the unit of scientific knowledge is taught and delivered to children through the website https://wwwreachoutcpd.com/.
Science at Easington C of E provides excellent opportunities to enhance the learning of all pupils including our more able pupils. Our more able pupils benefit from planning lines of enquiry, asking questions, problem solving, analysing results and drawing conclusions based on scientific findings. Each class is provided with many opportunities to Work Scientifically throughout each year. Our curriculum is flexible in order to accommodate this and during the year there is room for science units to be lengthened or shortened. We also take a flexible approach with our science curriculum in order to provide rich and varied science activities involving science focused visits and visitors.
SEND/Pupil Premium/Higher Standard Pupils
All children will have Quality First Teaching. Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent on their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied science curriculum, providing children with arrange of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.
At Easington Church of England Primary School, we realise and appreciate the fact that our higher ability scientists will not necessarily be the same children to who attain highly in English and mathematics. As such, extremely careful consideration has been given to how scientific evidence is gathered and recorded, by both staff and children. There may be instances when composing a piece of writing will be the most appropriate way to gather evidence of scientific understanding (e.g. a written explanation of the circulatory system etc) but this will not be the only way evidence may be gathered; opportunities for self-reflection, pupil voice, use of computing equipment to record evidence, oral explanations and high-quality discussions with staff will all be utilised to gather evidence pertinent to children’s attainment.
Success Criteria labels are used as an indicator of the progress that has occurred throughout the course of the lesson. The labels need to be specific to the year group objective and the Success Criteria specific to each year group. The success criteria SHOULD NOT be generic but SHOULD BE differentiated and matched to the children’s ability.
Marking and assessment within lessons (Verbal Feedback), at the point of learning, is an integral part of practice. Teachers use the ‘Next Steps’ to further challenge the Higher Standard children or to consolidate learning. It is an expectation that when the children’s work merits it, the ‘next step’ will be given. This may after the lesson has concluded or within the lesson at the point of learning-the purpose of the Next Step is to further challenge or consolidate learning, therefore it may be most appropriate to provide this during the course of the lesson or immediately after it. It is an expectation that all science work is marked and feedback provided before the beginning of the next session. Crucially, teachers check and acknowledge the ‘next step’ feedback by marking and initialling it.
IMPACT
How the impact of the science curriculum in our school is measured:
