Science
The Science Curriculum at The Pines:
The Science Curriculum aims to help develop children’s sense of excitement and curiosity about the world around them. It aims to provide them with the skills and knowledge to be able to use science to be able to answer scientific questions and to predict how things will behave and why. It aims to provide children with opportunities to learn through practical activities and to develop scientific enquiry skills which will help them to understand the world around them and to be able to apply these skills across the curriculum.
Intent:
At the Pines we want all children to be naturally curious about the world around them and to embrace their sense of wonder about natural world. We aim to help children develop and understanding about the world which they live in and prepare them for living increasingly scientific and technological world. Scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic, in science lessons we aim to encourage the skills of exploring and investigation including; observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, problem solving, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating. The curriculum is organised into topics which are revisited and developed throughout the years to allow children to build up upon their prior learning committing knowledge into their long-term memory with the aim for them to achieve a greater depth of understanding.
Key vocabulary for each topic is identified within the planning and children are encouraged to develop Science teaching at The Pines involves adapting the National Curriculum to ensure it is relevant for all learners but provides opportunities to all learners to be suitably challenged and achieve success, regardless of their starting point. During KS1 and KS2, where possible, science is linked to class topics but is taught as discrete units and lessons where needed. Teachers plan learning activities to suit their children’s interests and to be as interactive and engaging. We ensure that all children are provided with rich learning experiences that make links to other areas of the curriculum.
Implementation:
The curriculum is led and overseen by a science curriculum leader for primary and secondary and a member of the SLT, who regularly monitor, evaluate and review science teaching and learning. Using the National Curriculum as a basis we have designed a bespoke science curriculum. This is documented through knowledge maps and medium term planning for each topic across each Key Stage.
Science topics are taught in an order that makes sense in relation to other subjects and seasons. Teachers are provided with a clear knowledge maps which allows them to see the learning journey across Science for learners across all pathways. This enables teachers to know what prior learning and activities have taken place. Planning ensures that teachers are able to adapt lessons to ensure all learners can access challenging outcomes. Lessons are planned to enable children across the school to have hands-on experiences and take part in a range of experiments. Scientific enquiry takes place in every topic across the school and there is a coherent progression in the development of these skills across the year groups. Understanding in science is assessed regularly through a variety of formative assessment methods. Misconceptions are addressed immediately and where necessary, teachers will adjust subsequent lessons based on their assessments. Science resources at The Pines are regularly audited and we have a well-stocked science resource room and fully equipped science laboratory. This allows teachers to easily access the resources required for high quality teaching. Where appropriate, high quality fiction and non-fiction texts are used to compliment science topics.
Impact:
Children enjoy and are enthusiastic about science. Children are confident to engage in practical activities and experiments. There is a clear progression of children’s work and teachers’ expectations and skills and knowledge are carefully built up on topic by topic and year by year. Children are exposed to a scientific language rich environment are encouraged to explore the science topics with increasing independence.