Science

Intent

At Billesdon School we strive to provide a high-quality science education that develops children’s understanding of the world through the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

We seek to provide children with scientific knowledge and processes but also to give them the real world uses of this science. Our children are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation through exciting investigations, which build on their natural curiosity. They are expected to:

• Try to explain what is occurring
• Use appropriate scientific vocabulary and ideas
• Ask questions and explain the ‘why?’

We focus on providing a range of different types of scientific enquiry throughout children’s time at Billesdon. It is important children are not always directly guided to the ‘right’ answer and they realise that some of the most significant scientific advancements occurred from mistakes or someone saying ‘What if…..?’

We believe that as well as being able to understand a scientific enquiry for themselves, it is important our children can also explain this to someone else.

As well as using technical terminology accurately and precisely, children will also apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data.

We provide a broad and balanced science curriculum that engages all children across the school.

Implementation

At Billesdon Primary School we use the White Rose Science Scheme of learning for KS1 and KS2 classes. This allows for progression of scientific skills and enquiry types from Year 1 to Year 6. When required, this will be adapted to best suit each class and each individual learner so that they are able to make their personal best progress with their learning.

Each year group’s learning objectives will come from the national curriculum and these have been aligned to fit with the associated umbrella topics, within an appropriate time of year and within the children’s developmental stages so that they are best able to access the learning.  In EYFS PLAN Primary Sciences Resources are used to cover science themes that fit the class topic and will cover the objectives from the Understanding the World element of the statutory framework. All classes teach science weekly.

At the beginning of each unit, children should have the opportunity to reflect on their existing science knowledge through discussion and explicit links to previous learning will be made. Each science lesson is to be planned with one overarching lesson objective for all children and learning then differentiated to reflect this. Learning is planned and taught in units with a clear progression of learning across lessons and between year groups. Planning should ensure that by the end of the unit the children have met the objective set out in the national curriculum.

Where possible, teachers will also encourage members of our local community such as parents, and visitors form the local community, to support aspects of topics, for example all children at Billesdon School have the opportunity to visit to a local working farm each spring as part of British Science Week.

Across the year, children should have the opportunity to complete relevant investigations that engage them with their learning and further their understanding. They should have the opportunity to focus on particular working scientifically objectives and develop their skills in these areas. These will progress across the year and also between year groups.  Links should be made between relevant literacy and maths objectives where these have already been taught, to support the embedding of this learning and show the practical application of these skills.

Children need to be shown that there are a variety of types of scientific investigations and be taught these across their time in school:

• Fair testing
• Surveys and patterns in data
• Classification
• Exploring and observing over time
• Problem solving
• Investigating a ‘model’
• Secondary research

In KS1 and KS2 a working wall display will be in class to support new scientific learning. This could include:

• Relevant diagrams
• Supporting imagery
• Useful scientific vocabulary
• Definitions
• Real-life examples of the application of the learning
• Relevant examples of scientists/occupations in this field, particularly from minority groups/female representatives

We also have a whole school science display board to showcase children’s science learning across the school.

Impact

Throughout each lesson teachers and pupils will continuously assess their learning through questioning and understanding of the lesson objective. Knowledge organisers are introduced at the start of a unit and a double page spread is used as an assessment tool at the end of the unit. The teacher gives questions linked to the knowledge organiser and children evidence their answers creatively in their science books. In EYFS learning is recorded via observations on Tapestry both during specific science lessons and throughout continuous provision.  Our assessment system enables teachers to make informed judgements about each child’s learning and progress for each unit and across the year. Assessments in KS1 & KS2 are inputted onto OTrack at the end of each unit.

Curriculum overview - click here

Progression of skills in Science - click here

Link to the national curriculum for Science - click here