Science

Intent:

At Wilbraham Primary School, we are proud of the diversity of our children’s backgrounds. We value their observations and individual experiences of what they see around them. We aim to harness this and provide them with the skills and language they need to view the world through the eyes of a scientist. Our curriculum is progressive starting with exploration of the world in EYFS. Year on year our science curriculum develops to provide children with the confidence to enhance their understanding of their observations. Each year the children will encounter a rich variety of the five lines of enquiry: observing over time, pattern seeking, comparative and fair testing, identifying, classifying and grouping and researching using secondary sources. They will develop the skills to think scientifically by asking questions, forming lines of enquiry, carrying out accurate testing and interpreting results. Finally, children will be empowered to use age-appropriate scientific language to allow them to better articulate their understanding and make their views heard.  Through this approach, we aim to give the children skills, tools and language to take with them beyond school to challenge, question and voice their views about the ever-changing world they live in.

Implementation:

Our teachers provide weekly, creative lessons, that engage and challenge pupils by using a range of strategies to introduce, explore and help our children to fully understand scientific learning. Each year groups’ objectives come from the national curriculum and these have been aligned to fit with the associated topics. Opportunities are also provided to make links across other curriculum areas such as reading and through STEM activities. We also aim to inspire our children to become future scientists by highlighting the work of BAME scientists and celebrate scientific events in the calendar for example British Science Week. In addition, we believe that it is paramount to engage with parents and encourage science at home, by running annual science experiments and selfie competitions. We acknowledge that science goes beyond the classroom and we therefore strive to give our children enriching experiences through trips to museums and having visitors in school. Teachers are given the training and support to possess the knowledge to deliver both substantive and disciplinary knowledge with the aim to teach these simultaneously in each lesson.

Impact:

Our children enjoy taking part in science lessons and are enthusiastic about their learning. They are able to work collaboratively and practically and through these experiences are able to discuss, question and reflect about what they have been learning. Revision of key concepts and knowledge are revisited regularly through metacognitive strategies at the start of each science lesson to ensure that teachers are able to assess pupils’ understanding. Children at Wilbraham, will be able to recall key facts from various topics throughout their school career based on the substantive knowledge they have been taught. Pupils will be able to do this whilst also discussing the disciplinary knowledge based on the methods used when working scientifically from EYFS to Year 6.