In the Lower School there is a significant focus on encouraging our pupils to explore the world around them and to make sense of it in relation to their growing scientific knowledge. By encouraging our pupils in Lower School to explore the world around them and raise their own questions they will experience different types of scientific enquiries. We will use practical activities, and help them to begin to recognise ways in which they might answer scientific questions. We want all our pupils to be IDEAL Scientists. By this we mean scientists who can Identify, Describe, Explain, and Link idea, concepts and facts to make sense of the world around them. The pupils will use simple features to compare objects, materials and living things and, with help, decide how to sort and group them, observe changes over time, and, with guidance, they should begin to notice patterns and relationships. We will encourage them to ask people questions and to use simple secondary sources to find answers.

By the time that they reach years 3 and 4 pupils will have been given a range of scientific experiences to enable them to raise their own questions about the world around them. They will start to make their own decisions about the most appropriate type of scientific enquiry they might use to answer questions; such as recognising when a simple fair test is necessary and help to decide how to set it up. They will be on their way to becoming IDEAL Scientists.

Middle School Readiness:

By the end of Lower School all our pupils will:

• ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them

• set up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests.

• make systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, take accurate measurements use standard units, use a range of scientific equipment.

• gather, record, classify and present data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions

• record findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables.

• report on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions.

• use results to draw simple conclusions and to make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions.

• identify differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes

• use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

Intervention and Catch Up:

Any pupils not yet working able to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge/concepts listed above will receive the following support in Year 5/6:

• Middle school SENDCo. to support with plan of targeted interventions.

• We will use subject specialists to support the class teachers and to provide additional support sessions.

• A programme of 1 to 1 and small group interventions run before and after the school day.

In the Middle School pupils will use their science experiences to: explore ideas and raise different kinds of questions; select and plan the most appropriate type of scientific enquiry to use to answer scientific questions; recognise when and how to set up comparative and fair tests and explain which variables need to be controlled and why. It is vital that they can do this so that we continue to develop our IDEAL Scientists. The principal focus of science teaching in the Middle School is to develop a deeper understanding of a range of scientific ideas in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Pupils will begin to see the connections between these subject areas and become aware of some of the big ideas underpinning scientific knowledge and understanding. Pupils will be encouraged to relate scientific explanations to phenomena in the world around them and start to use modelling and abstract ideas to develop and evaluate explanations. By the end of their time in the Middle School all our pupils will be able to link their scientific ideas and knowledge to produce a more rounded picture of their world and how it works.

Upper School Readiness

By the end of the Middle School all our pupils will:

• pay attention to objectivity and concern for accuracy, precision, repeatability and reproducibility

• understand that scientific methods and theories develop as earlier explanations are modified to take account of new evidence and ideas, together with the importance of publishing results and peer review

• evaluate risks

• ask questions and develop a line of enquiry based on observations of the real world, alongside prior knowledge and experience

• make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding

• select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiries to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables

• use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety

• make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements

• present observations and data using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs

• interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations, measurements and data to draw conclusions

• evaluate data, showing awareness of potential sources of random and systematic error

• identify further questions arising from their results

• understand and use SI units and IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) chemical nomenclature

• use and derive simple equations and carry out appropriate calculations

Intervention and Catch Up:

Any pupils not yet working able to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge/concepts listed above will receive the following support in Year 9/10 and 11:

• Upper school SENDCo. to support with plan of targeted interventions.

• A programme of 1 to 1 and small group interventions run before and after the school day

• Class teachers will closely monitor their groups to ensure that they are fully aware of who is in need of additional support.

In the Upper School teaching of the sciences continues with the process of building upon and deepening scientific knowledge and the understanding of ideas developed in earlier key stages in the subject disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

For some students, studying the sciences in the Upper School provides the platform for more advanced studies, establishing the basis for a wide range of careers. For others, it will be their last formal study of subjects that provide the foundations for understanding the natural world and will enhance their lives in an increasingly technological society.

Science is changing our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all students will be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. They will be able to appreciate the achievements of science in showing how the complex and diverse phenomena of the natural world can be described in terms of a number of key ideas relating to the sciences which are inter-linked, and which are of universal application. The IDEAL Scientist.

Lower School

• Rare Breeds centre: Bio diversity and animal care.

• Dover Castle: History, Geography and Geology.

• Samphire Hoe: Ecology, Geology, Fossils

• Western Heights: Ecology, History and Geology

Middle School

• Science Museum: Biology, Chemistry and Physics

• National History Museum: Biology and Chemistry

• Greenwich- National Maritime Museum and Observatory: Physics and Chemistry

• Ogden Trust Events: Physics

• Samphire Hoe: Biology

• Stem Events

• Benenden Science Fair

Upper School

• STEM Talks

• Dungeness

• Discovery Science Park- Big Bang Science Festivals

• RE Museum

• CERN

• Army STEM Days

• Sixth Form research projects

• Nuffield Scholarship Programme

• KAN Programme