Curriculum Science

Here at St James Catholic Primary School, we recognise that science is fundamental in all aspects of life. As soon as children enter EYFS, they are immersed in scientific enquiry and learn the skills needed to become inquisitive investigators of the world around us. By the time the children reach Year 6, these skills will be fully embedded through the teaching of the science curriculum, engaging field trips, and the opportunity to attend STEM events. As one of our core subjects, we give the teaching and learning of science the prominence it requires so that all children can reach their full potential.

At St James Catholic Primary School, in conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our science teaching offers opportunities for children to:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through different types of scientific enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them. These scientific enquiries are introduced at the start of every lesson so all children know what skills they require and how these skills can be applied to all aspects of scientific learning
• be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
• To expose children to the wide range of STEM related careers and opportunities available to them, particularly those linked to the North East of England
• Use a range of methods to communicate their scientific information and present it in a systematic, cross-curricular manner, including ICT, 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.

Our science units are delivered on a half-termly rotation, allowing the children to have a comprehensive and immersive learning experience. In EYFS, science is taught through the children learning about the world around them in their learning through play.
We endeavour to ensure that the Science curriculum we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences.

Our science curriculum has been carefully planned so that high quality teaching and resources are embedded across all year groups and all scientific units of work. Our lesson plans follow a precise structure which enables consistency across all classes and draws out the full potential of all students. Our lesson structures go as follows:

Critical thinking:

children begin the lesson looking at a problem, photo or big question on Explorify which is aimed to challenge our children’s perceptions of the world around us and engage in open-ended questions. We remind children science is not always about finding the right answers but instead asking the right the right questions.

The ‘Big Question’

• within each lesson there will be a focus question which we hope children will be able to scientifically answer by the end of the lesson. This is a great way of assessing children’s prior knowledge and to track what they have learned throughout the course of the unit.

‘Let’s rewind’

• our ‘let’s rewind’ slides are opportunities for the children to draw upon their prior knowledge and vocabulary learned in previous lessons and units of work. This is a wonderful assessment tools for teachers and also creates opportunities for children to revisit ‘sticky knowledge’ and to embed it into their long-term memories.

‘Sticky knowledge’

• this section of teaching is the bulk our new scientific learning, allowing the children to access this new knowledge through field trip experiences, carefully selected texts, videos or stories. Children’s sticky knowledge is assessed at the end of each unit and revisited frequently in both later units and across other year groups.

Implementation

• at the end of each lesson, children are able to apply their sticky knowledge through one of the 5 scientific lines of enquiry and through the development of their scientific skills. This may be presents in various ways such as: research projects; scientific journals; scientific investigations; outdoor field work; or presenting work through graphs, bar charts or collective data.

Here at St James, all children are scientists. The content of work within children’s science books is assessed specifically through their sticky knowledge content and application of scientific skills. We also expect our science books to contain many cross-curricular links, including fieldwork sketches, the collation and presentation of data through graphs, and links to Geography through the exploration of the world around us. Science is also celebrated through whole-school events such as British Science Week and annual STEM competitions.

At the end of each year, our children will have a comprehensive understanding of the science curriculum and a positive outlook on their learning journey through their time at St James. They will be able to discuss their findings using key vocabulary and references from their completed work. Children will have covered the five areas of scientific enquiry, developing their analytical and questioning skills along the way. Also, the children will have consolidated learning from other curricular areas due to the creative recording of data using a variety resources and methods.

Curriculum Map - Progression of Knowledge across Science