Science

At St Clement’s Catholic Primary School, we recognise the importance of science in every aspect of daily life. As one of the core subjects taught in Primary Schools, we give the teaching and learning of science the prominence it requires. We encourage our pupils’ natural curiosity of the world and teach the knowledge and enquiry skills to develop their understanding of the world.

Intent:

Science teaching at St Clement’s aims to help children develop a scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of the world around them, whilst developing an understanding of the nature, processes, and methods of science through scientific enquiry. It also aims to help children develop an understanding of the uses and implications of science today and in the future.

Scientific enquiry skills are at the heart of the curriculum and are embedded into each topic and lesson. The topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at the school, for example the topic of electricity is taught in Year 4 and revisited in Year 6. This allows the children to build upon prior knowledge, consolidate their understanding, remove any misconceptions, and increase their interest in the topic. This allows for retrieval of information from memory.

Pupils are given a range of scientific experiences and are encouraged to: explore ideas and questions, predict outcomes, test theories, to come to conclusions and to question what is already known. They are encouraged to use scientific vocabulary as much as possible and this vocabulary is displayed whilst studying the unit, when and where possible. They should also apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting, and analysing data and standards of English and Maths should continue throughout the Science curriculum.

Implementation:

Teachers are required to plan and teach 2 hours of science per week. As part of the planning process, teachers need to plan for and consider the following:

  • A knowledge organiser for each topic, which includes what they should already know, what they should know by the end of the topic and key vocabulary they should master, which is used throughout the topic.
  • A cycle of lessons for each topic which plans for progression and depth and highlights scientific enquiry within the lesson.
  • End of topic tests (KS2 in particular) to assess their understanding of the topic and which knowledge has been stored.
  • Teacher assessment for each topic to highlight children who have met all the objectives and are working at greater depth and to indicate which children are working towards and will need objectives to be reviewed when the topic is revisited in subsequent years.
  • Data assessed to monitor specific children and groups of children highlighted, to ensure additional support when needed.
  • Trips and visits from experts (workshops and possibly a parental list), where possible, and a well-planned Science Week, to enhance learning experiences.
  • Scientist of the term, to enhance learning experiences.
  • Science garden to be created at the front of the school to enhance learning experiences.

Impact:

Our science curriculum is high quality, well planned and demonstrates progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be meeting the expected standards or working at greater depth. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

  • A reflection against age related expectations.
  • Completion and tracking of end of topic assessment results.
  • Completion and tracking of teacher assessment for each topic/ year group.
  • Book scrutinies.
  • Lesson observations.
  • Pupil discussions about their learning.

Science Skills Progression

Science Skills Progression