Early Years & Years 1-3

Years 4-7

Intent

At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School, we intend to instill the “St Peter’s and Clifton Sschool Spirit”  in all our children. The teaching of Science in particular encourages our children to value the importance of:

"Inquisitiveness"

as they explore the world around them in a naturally curious way, while complementing this with the acquisition of science skills and knowledge.

The 2014 National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all children:

• 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 science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. We understand that it is important for lessons to have a skills-based focus, and that the knowledge can be taught through this

The Science curriculum at Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills. We ensure that the Working Scientifically skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at the school so that they can apply their knowledge of science when using equipment, conducting experiments, building arguments and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings.

Implementation

Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following;

• Science will be taught in planned and arranged topic blocks by the class teacher, to have a project-based approach. This is a strategy to enable the achievement of a greater depth of knowledge.
• Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. This curiosity is celebrated within the classroom. Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often involving high-quality resources to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess children regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all children keep up.
• We build upon the learning and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, and they become more proficient in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence.
• Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. This is developed through the years, in-keeping with the topics.
• Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills in order to embed scientific understanding. Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning and workshops with experts.
• Children throughout school become increasingly familiar with the 5 types of scientific enquiry (Fair Testing; Observation over Time; Pattern Seeking; Identifying & Classifying; Researching). Staff refer to each type of enquiry in their planning, on displays and in lessons so that children become more confident in recognising these skills and in Upper KS2 choose which skill they will need to use to answer their own questions.
• Children are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities, visits, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class.
• Events such as Science Day allow all pupils to come off-timetable, to provide broader provision and the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills.

Impact

The successful approach at Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School results in a fun, engaging, high-quality science education, that provides children with the foundations and knowledge for understanding the world. Our engagement with the local environment ensures that children learn through varied and first hand experiences of the world around them. Through various workshops, trips and interactions with experts, children have the understanding that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children at Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School thoroughly enjoy science and this results in motivated learners with sound scientific understanding.

Curriculum 

Primary Science is split into scientific enquiry and scientific knowledge. To help children learn the different aspects of Science Enquiry, teachers use, reference and display the five types (observing over time; fair testing; identifying and classifying; pattern seeking and researching) as characters. Please see the attached document to see the posters. We follow the National Curriculum which splits the scientific knowledge into different year groups. 

To see the progression of scientific knowledge and scientific enquiry through school please see the attached documents. You can also look at the whole school long term plan which details which topics are taught in which terms. 

Y1 have been learning about the different types of animal groups (Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Fish, Amphibians and Invertebrates) and sorting animals into these groups. We were very impressed with the vocabulary the children have learnt and were able to use.

The whole school enjoyed Science Day. You can read all about it and view our photos here.

Y1 were learning the parts of a tree by making a working tree as a whole class.

Y1 had great fun testing out lots of questions about food that had fallen into the sea. The children came up with so many great questions and predictions about what might happen with great scientific reasons. 

Y1 carried out a fair test, using knowledge of materials and their properties, to find the best way to keep a queen dry in the rain. We had great fun and were all brilliant at using our science vocabulary and predicting using our scientific knowledge. We loved the fact that we could be real scientists testing out our ideas and hypotheses and were surprised by some of our results.

Y1 are working on Materials. They have identified the materials that toys are made from and sorted them into groups.

Y1 have been looking closely at plants and labelling their parts. The children were fascinated by what they looked like under the microscope!

Children in Year 5/6 carried out a science investigation - Is the size of the shadow affected when the light source is moved? 

We wanted to know how we defrost our frozen hands if we were to get too cold... we placed ice hands in different places around our school. We used our new data loggers to find the accurate temperature in the different places. Some of us were surprised to find that the quickest way to warm up was in warm water. It didn't work wrapping them up as we found out that kept the hands cold!

In our nature detectives science topic we have made bird feeders and put them in our school ground to attract the wildlife at our school.

In Y2, we went on an Autumn walk. We were on the hunt for the leaves of different trees that grow in the United Kingdom. The children examined the leaves carefully, and we even made friends with a little frog who calls our wild area home!

Science Day, 2018

The whole school took part in a range of exciting activities as part of Science Day on Tuesday 9th October, 2018 on the theme ‘Our Planet’.

Children in Foundation Stage learnt all about Space, the stars and the weather. Years 1 & 2 were also learning all about Space and they carried out an investigation to find out which material would make the best space suit. Children in KS2 were focussing on protecting our planet. Years 3 & 4 looked at the effects of Palm Oil production have on rainforests while Years 5 & 6 were looking at plastic in our oceans. The children in Years 1 to 6 were also fortunate enough to visit the planetarium where they had a wonderful, visual experience learning all about space, the planets and life on the International Space Station. All the children had a fantastic time!