Our curriculum aims to inspire pupils to become curious, inquisitive and analytical thinkers with a broad understanding of the natural world – in other words, to think like scientists. The intention is for pupils to develop the confidence to ask questions, make observations, carry out investigations, record data in a variety of ways and analyse and present their findings.

• The curriculum aims to build an awareness of how science influences everyday life and drives progress in society. The hope is to encourage pupils to become reflective, responsible individuals who use scientific knowledge and skills to make informed decisions and contribute positively to the world around them.

  The curriculum supports teachers in developing their subject knowledge and skills, enabling the delivery of engaging, well-informed lessons with confidence. The curriculum is designed to be both accessible and ambitious, ensuring all learners’ full participation and potential achievement.

  Implementation

  Based on the National curriculum, the following three strands have been identified, which run throughout the Science curriculum:

• Scientific knowledge and understanding.
• Working scientifically.
• Science in action.

• The Science curriculum has been planned with these strands running through each unit, ensuring balanced coverage of the different areas of science and both substantive and disciplinary knowledge.

  The National curriculum for science sets out the importance of developing scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding across the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. It also emphasises the role of scientific enquiry in helping pupils understand the nature and methods of science.

  To support this, our science curriculum is organised into the following seven key areas:

  • Plants

  • Animals, including humans

  • Living things and their habitats

  • Materials

  • Energy

  • Forces, Earth and space

  • Making connections

  These areas are revisited across year groups to ensure that pupils build a secure and connected understanding of key scientific concepts while developing their ability to think and work scientifically.

  Our science scheme of work has been designed as a spiral curriculum with the following key principles in mind:

  Cyclical – pupils return to the key knowledge and skills again and again during their time in primary school.

  Increasing depth – each time a skill is revisited, it is covered with greater complexity.

  Prior knowledge – pupils build upon previous foundations rather than starting again.

  Impact

  The impact of the curriculum can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. Each lesson includes opportunities for teachers to assess pupils against the learning objectives. Furthermore, each unit has a unit quiz and a knowledge catcher, which can be used at the end of the unit to provide a summative assessment. Lessons encourage discussion, reflection and verbal explanations. This allows teachers to capture pupils’ understanding through questioning, class discussions and recorded responses, supporting a broader view of progress beyond written work.

  After the implementation of the Science curriculum pupils should leave school equipped with the requisite skills and knowledge to succeed in key stage 3 Science. They will have the necessary tools to confidently and meaningfully question and explore the world around them as well as critically and analytically experiencing and observing phenomena. Pupils will understand the significance and impact of science on society.

  The expected impact of following our science curriculum of work is that children will:

  ● Develop a body of foundational knowledge for the Biology topics in the National curriculum:

  Plants; Animals, Including Humans; Living Things and Their Habitats; Evolution and Inheritance.

  ● Develop a body of foundational knowledge for the Chemistry topics in the National curriculum:

  Everyday Materials; Uses of Everyday Materials; Properties and Changes of Materials; States of Matter; Rocks.

  ● Develop a body of foundational knowledge for the Physics topics in the National curriculum:

  Seasonal Changes; Forces and Magnets; Sound; Light; Electricity; Earth and Space.

  ● Be able to evaluate and identify the methods that ‘real world’ scientists use to develop and answer scientific questions.

  ● Identify and use equipment effectively to accurately gather, measure and record data.

  ● Be able to display and convey data in a variety of ways, including graphs.

  ● Analyse data in order to identify, classify, group, and find patterns.

  ● Use evidence to formulate explanations and conclusions.

  ● Demonstrate scientific literacy through presenting concepts and communicating ideas using scientific vocabulary.

  ● Understand the importance of resilience and a growth mindset, particularly in reference to scientific enquiry.

  ● Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the National curriculum for Science.

   

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• EYFS Science Skills and Knowledge map.pdf