Science

Science Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Paddock Wood Primary Academy, 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.

The scientific area of learning is concerned with increasing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of our world, and with developing skills associated with science as a process of enquiry. It will develop the natural curiosity of the child, encourage respect for living organisms and the physical environment and provide opportunities for critical evaluation of evidence.

At Paddock Wood Academy, in conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our science teaching offers opportunities for children to:

• 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;

• be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

• develop the essential scientific enquiry skills to deepen their scientific knowledge.

• Use a range of methods to communicate their scientific information and present it in a systematic, scientific manner, including I.C.T., diagrams, graphs and charts.

• Develop a respect for the materials and equipment they handle with regard to their own, and other children’s safety.

• Develop an enthusiasm and enjoyment of scientific learning and discovery.

The National Curriculum will provide a structure and skill development for the science curriculum being taught throughout the school, which is now linked, where possible to individual PYP inquiries to provide a creative scheme of work, which reflects a balanced programme of study.

Implementation

Science learning and teaching is a core entitlement for every child in school. In PWPA we timetable science (flexibly, by module) for each class in line with national recommendations.

In EYFS science is called Knowledge and Understanding of the World:

• Pupils learn to explore, problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions and talk about the world around them

• Children learn about creatures, people, plants and matters in their natural environments

• They observe and manipulate objects and materials to identify differences and similarities

• Children learn to use their senses, for example feeling dough or listening to sounds in the environment, such as sirens or farm animals

• Children are encouraged to ask questions about why things happen and how things work

• Pupils learn about the importance of keeping healthy and the things that contribute to this and learn to recognise changes that happen to the body when it is active.

Science at Key Stage 1

Pupils learn about the importance of asking questions, gathering evidence, carrying out experiments and looking at different ways of presenting their results. Lessons are practical and focus on the world around us. 

In line with the 2014 National Curriculum children in Year 1 cover the following topics:

• Plants - identifying and naming plants and looking at their basic structure

• Animals including humans - identifying and naming different animals and understanding how and why they are grouped

• Everyday materials - looking at materials and their properties

• Seasonal changes - observing changes across the four seasons and looking at different types of weather.

Children in Year 2 cover:

• Living things and their habitats - including dependence within habitats and micro-habitats

• Plants - observing how seeds and bulbs grow into plants and what plants need to stay healthy

• Animals including humans - focusing on reproduction, nutrition and exercise

• Everyday materials - comparing uses and looking at how they can be changed by exerting force.

Science at Key Stage 2

Pupils are encouraged to ask questions about scientific concepts and then carry out experiments to find out the answers. As children enter Upper Key Stage 2 children will continue to practise these skills but with more depth and precision.

In Lower KS2:

• Children learn what a 'valid (fair) test' is.

• They begin to take measurements from a range of equipment

• Children begin to gather and record data and report their findings orally and in writing

• Pupils are taught to understand what variables are and how to control them. 

In Upper KS2: 

• Children are given opportunities to take measurements from a range of equipment

• Pupils understanding the need for repeated measures to increase accuracy

• Children begin to gather and record data using labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs

• Children use test results to make further predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests

• Children make conclusions on the test carried out, orally and in writing.

Under the 2014 National Curriculum children in Year 3 cover the following topics:

• Plants including parts of plants, needs of plants and their lifecycle

• Animals including humans, focusing on nutrition, skeletons and muscles

• Rocks, including comparing rocks, looking at fossils and understanding how soil is made

• Light, looking at how light is reflected, how shadows are formed and can change

• Forces and magnets, focusing on attraction and repulsion of magnets, magnetic materials and the two poles of a magnet.

Children in Year 4 cover:

• Living things and their habitats, including classifying living things and looking at changes to environments

• Animals, including humans, focusing on eating: teeth, the digestive system and food chains

• States of matter, including grouping materials, changing state, evaporation and condensation

• Sound, looking at creation of sound through vibration and changes in pitch and volume

• Electricity, including constructing a circuit and understanding conductors and insulators.

Children in Year 5 cover:

• Living things and their habitats, including life cycles of a mammal, amphibian, insect and bird

• Animals, including humans, focusing on changes from birth to old age

• Properties and changes of materials, including dissolving, separating and reversible changes

• Earth and space, looking at the movement of the sun, earth and moon

• Forces, including gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction.

Children in Year 6 cover:

• Living things and their habitats, including classifying micro-organisms, plants and animals

• Animals, including humans, focusing mainly on diet and exercise

• Evolution and inheritance, looking at fossils, reproduction and adaptation

• Light, looking closely at how it travels and how shadows are made

• Electricity, analysing the function of lamps, buzzers, cells and switches.

Our science ethos at Paddock Wood Primary Academy is one of excitement, engagement and wonder. Teachers facilitate this well through well planned, practical lessons, and high quality out of school visits and activities. Our pupils are given lots of opportunities to explore and investigate, to develop their scientific skills as well as explore and investigate.

Impact

The successful approach at Paddock Wood Primary results in a fun, engaging, high-quality science education that provides children with the foundations for understanding the world. Through working collaboratively during investigations they will be able to explain the process they have taken and be able to reason scientifically. 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 and local scientists, children have the understanding that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children learn the possibilities for careers in science as a result of our community links and connection with national agencies such as the STEM association. Pupil voice is used to further develop the science curriculum, through questioning of pupil’s views and attitudes to science to support the children’s enjoyment of science and to motivate learners.