Our Science teaching implements the objectives of the National Curriculum which covers the key scientific areas of biology, chemistry and physics as well scientific enquiry. 

   We want children to leave our school as competent and enthusiastic scientists who are curious about the world around them and who have the skills to find out about the various phenomena they encounter as well as having the knowledge to understand what they observe. 

   Through our Science teaching we aim to inspire pupils to experiment and investigate the world around them and to help them raise their own questions such as “Why…?”, “How…?” and “What happens if…?”  We encourage children to use their experiences to answer questions and to apply knowledge to help them explain their understanding of the world around them. 

   Children are taught appropriate scientific vocabulary and are expected to use this when talking about their work and discussing scientific concepts. 

   In Key Stage 1 Science concepts may be taught as part of a topic where a meaningful link can be made or as an individual science unit of work. In Key Stage 2, children are split into year groups for a weekly Science lesson, so Science is taught as units separate from other topic work. This ensures that all children will cover the appropriate science objectives for their year group as set out in the National Curriculum. 

   As well as each unit of work allowing for coverage of the knowledge based areas of the curriculum, each unit will also contain at least one investigative task which will develop the children’s investigative skills.  These skills include planning investigative work, selecting relevant resources, carrying out activities safely, measuring and checking results, making comparisons and deciding on the best form of communicating their findings.

   Within each year group the curriculum is split into six half termly units.  Sample units of work are provided to assist teachers with planning but it is up to individual teachers to use and adapt these plans as appropriate to their children and to provide appropriate meaningful contexts for learning. Where possible links are made with other curriculum subjects, especially Literacy, Maths and Computing.

   Teachers will use a variety of strategies, including questioning, discussion and marking written work, to assess a pupil’s understanding of scientific concepts.  This information is used to inform planning for future lessons.  Pupil’s attainment against National Curriculum objectives for Science is recorded in Target Tracker.