Science

 

Curriculum Cycle A 2022 - 2023 Curriculum Cycle B 2023 - 2024

 

Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Chaddleworth St Andrew’s and Shefford C.E. Federated schools we understand the importance of science in everyday life and encourage our pupils to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings. We believe our science curriculum broadens our pupils’ knowledge and understanding of our world and develops their skills to investigate various concepts. The National Curriculum provides a structure and skill development for the science curriculum being taught throughout the school which is linked, where appropriate, to the theme topics. This enables pupils to achieve their full potential and develop a love of science through scaffolded practical investigations, using equipment to conduct experiments, building arguments and confidently explaining concepts.

At Chaddleworth St Andrew’s and Shefford C.E. Federated schools we aim to:

  • develop understanding of the processes and methods of science through different types of scientific enquiry to answer a key scientific question.
  • encourage the use of oracy to agree, build or challenge various conclusions
  • be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of Science, both today and for the future.
  • use a range of methods to communicate their scientific information and present it in a systematic, scientific way, including oral or written presentations, diagrams, graphs and charts.
  • develop a respect for the materials and equipment they handle with regard to their own, and other children’s safety.
  • develop an enthusiasm and enjoyment of scientific learning and discovery.
  • give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further hone their skills as they proceed to the next stage of their education.

 

Implementation
Teaching Time

To provide adequate time for developing scientific skills each class teacher will provide a weekly science lesson. This may vary in length but will usually last for about 1 to 2 hours. Links, where appropriate, will also be made to science within other subjects so pupils can develop and apply their scientific skills.

 

Planning

Lessons are planned and structured so that new knowledge and skills reinforce what has been taught previously. Teachers use the objectives taken from the National Curriculum statutory guidance and follow Termly Overview to support their planning.

Progression maps are based on the National Curriculum “Working Scientifically”, using section headings:

  • Asking Questions
  • Measuring and Recording
  • Concluding
  • Evaluating

Our pupils are encouraged to investigate and gather their own ideas to answer a key question in which to apply all of their scientific skills.

 

Science across the curriculum

Science contributes to many subjects within the primary curriculum and opportunities will be sought to give scientific experiences out of a wide range of activities. This will allow pupils to begin to use and apply science in real life contexts. These opportunities will be identified in all appropriate schemes of work but other opportunities will be taken as and when they occur.

 

Resources

Every classroom must use a science working wall to support concepts and vocabulary used in a unit of work. There are a wide range of practical resources to be used in all year groups. All classrooms must use appropriate resources to allow pupils to apply and develop scientific skills. Scientific language and sentence stems are used to support pupils in securing and remembering concepts.

 

Information and Communication Technology

ICT will be used in various ways to support teaching and motivate pupils, for example using applications to present findings effectively.

 

Assessment

Pre-assessment, Formative assessment and summative assessment:

  • Pre-assessment (Assessment BEFORE learning): this is the assessment before the learning that takes place at the start of the topic, in order to gather prior knowledge.
  • Formative (Assessment FOR learning- AFL): ongoing assessment of how pupils are learning, undertaken by the teacher during the course of the learning process.
  • Summative (Assessment OF learning): this is the assessment of learning that takes place after the learning process, in order to measure the effectiveness of the learning.

These assessments will be used to inform teaching in a continuous cycle of pre-assessing, planning, teaching and assessing.

Pre-assessment will be an informal part of the topic to check pupils’ knowledge and understanding, which will help the teacher gauge an accurate starting point for the topic. Ongoing assessment, AFL and mini assessments will be an informal part of every lesson to check pupils’ understanding and provide information which will help the teacher to create weekly lesson plans.

Teachers will refer to end of year objectives to help inform them of a Teacher Assessment level, using their evidence from class work across the curriculum to guide them. Accurate information will be reported to parents and the pupil’s next teacher. Analysis of progress will be regularly carried out by the Science Co-ordinator throughout the year. Where pupils appear to be making little progress the Science Co-ordinator will discuss interventions to support the teacher, in order to help the pupils accelerate their learning.

 

Marking

See the Feedback, Marking and Assessment Policy.

 

Impact

At Chaddleworth and Shefford Schools we expect that by the end of Year 6 pupils will:

  • become fluent in the fundamentals of science
  • explain concepts scientifically by following a line of enquiry and drawing conclusions
  • present their findings in a systematic and scientific way

 

Outcomes

At the end of each year we expect pupils to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) for their year group. Some pupils will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GD). Pupils who have gaps in their knowledge will receive appropriate support and intervention.

 

Pupil Voice

Through discussion and feedback, pupils talk enthusiastically about their science lessons and speak about how they love learning science. They can articulate the context in which science is being taught using accurate vocabulary.

 

Management of Science

In order to achieve this the Science Co-ordinator and the Senior Leadership Team take responsibility for the monitoring of the Science curriculum and the standards achieved by the pupils. The Science Co-ordinator will monitor for appropriate pitch and progression every term. This monitoring takes the form of one or more of the following:

  1. lesson observation and feedback
  2. learning walks and pupil voice conversations
  3. planning scrutiny followed by support where necessary
  4. book looks on frequent basis
  5. termly data analysis