Science
At Bellingham Primary School we understand that science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children are the future. We teach our children science to a high standard in all classes, teaching them the essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science which are essential as future citizens in an ever changing world. At Bellingham Primary School the high-quality science curriculum we provide to our pupils sets the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Having a secure foundational knowledge of scientific concepts is essential for our pupils’ future studies within our own school, secondary school, college, university and beyond, enabling them to achieve their aspirations and have the confidence to use and apply them in all aspects of everyday life.
The pupils at Bellingham Primary School are encouraged to work scientifically, recognising the power of rational explanation and developing a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Our children develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of scientific inquiries that help them to answer questions about the world around them: practical experiences (including exploring the outdoor environment and locality); observation over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping scientific information; comparative and fair testing; and researching using secondary resources. Lessons are carefully planned to ensure children are given opportunities to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave and analyse causes. At Bellingham Primary School we ensure that children apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data.
At Bellingham Primary School, we recognise the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are key factors in developing their scientific vocabulary and articulating scientific concepts clearly and precisely. Pupils learn to describe associated processes and key characteristics in common scientific language, but they also use technical terminology accurately. We ensure children build up an extended specialist vocabulary. Children are assisted in making their thinking clear, both to themselves and others, and teachers ensure that pupils build secure foundations by using discussion to probe and remedy misconceptions.
Working scientifically is embedded within the different units children are taught at Bellingham Primary School, focusing on the key features so that pupils learn a variety of approaches to answer scientific questions. Scientific knowledge and skills are self-assessed by children at the end of the unit. Teachers use this information, as well as ongoing assessments of pupils’ understanding to ensure that any misconceptions are addressed, and all children are prepared for the next stage of learning. At Bellingham Primary School we understand that It is vital for children to develop a secure understanding of each key block of knowledge and concepts in order to progress to the next stage. We are proud of our rigorous analysis of termly assessments enabling us to make appropriate early interventions to ensure every child makes high levels of progress.
The science subject coordinator (Rebecca Moore) monitors the subject closely in Bellingham Primary School to ensure children are working at a high standard: book and planning scrutinies, learning walks, lesson observations, evaluation of school data compared to national standards, attending local authority network meetings and courses to ensure they stay abreast of best practice, and leading whole-school training for staff members, form a part of this.
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Intent Our provision is designed to give students a curiosity and interest in the sciences. We aim to inspire students to pursue scientific enquiry now and throughout their lives. When planning the science curriculum, we have intended to ensure that students are able to participate in varied systematic investigations, ensuring that they are able to answer questions about the world around them. As pupils progress through the year groups, they build on their skills in working scientifically and both conducting and designing their own fair and reliable investigations. We aim to give students the scientific understanding to continue through their studies equipped for life to ask and answer scientific questions. Our scheme of work ensures that children have a varied and progressive science curriculum that is well-mapped-out and allows for progression across the full spectrum of the science national curriculum for KS1 and KS2. Science is key to our futures and it is important that children are aware of the importance of science from the beginning of their scientific studies. We provide students with the foundations to understand biology, chemistry and physics as well as developing an understanding of the world around them at an age-appropriate level.
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Implementation When designing our curriculum, we have ensured that knowledge gained in EYFS leads on to KS1 and then KS2, giving our students the skills and knowledge needed to progress in their studies. We want our students to gain knowledge and remember information, as well as being able to query their studies. Our topics cover the national curriculum for science and aim to develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science and the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. We want our students to develop the essential scientific enquiry skills to deepen their knowledge and engage in a life-long passion for science. In Early Years, content is taught without explicitly teaching content from other year groups. We ensure that the EYFS setting provides a rich language environment for pupils and adults identify and model scientific vocabulary appropriate for the topic and age, ensuring high expectations through EYFS. We utilise forest school and outdoor learning to help build upon our scientific education in an age-appropriate way. In KS1 and KS2, we ensure that our students acquire key scientific knowledge in every science lesson and that we can clearly see the progression of skills for working scientifically that are developed through the year groups. Scientific enquiry and knowledge are developed as children move through the year groups with increasing depth and challenge. Our sequence of lessons helps to embed the scientific knowledge and skills required, with each lesson building upon prior knowledge and fitting into a sequence to cover the national curriculum. Activities are differentiated so that students have an appropriate level of both support and challenge. We ensure that we build upon the close links between Science, Maths, Technology and Engineering in our teaching and are keen to create cross-curricular links as part of our progression and subject development. |
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Impact We believe that our curriculum enables students to develop a thorough understand of the content taught and allows them to explain what they have learned. Our children are keen and excited about science and have a desire to learn more. We approach science with fun and engaging lessons that provide pupils with the foundations for understanding the world. We utilise our outdoor areas to enhance our science provision and this allows the children to interact with their local environment. We take part in workshops to enhance the children’s learning of the area around us and this helps the children learn about future career choices and community links. We take on board children’s perspectives and promote discussion through our Student Council.
We measure the impact of our curriculum in the following ways:
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