Science
Intent
Science teaching at Bishop Tufnell Primary School aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future. At Bishop Tufnell Primary School, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each science Unit / topic that the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Science units or topics, such as Plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory. All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts taught should be reinforced by focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions. We have fantastic school grounds and encourage outdoor learning as much as possible. Science should be fun and fascinating to our children and we want science to excite and interest our children by encouraging as much 1st hand learning opportunities as possible.
Implementation
Teachers are provided with a route map which clearly shows what they must teach and cover each term, the key areas of learning, and the scientific enquiry skills. As well as this they are provided with the skills progression science document to ensure the key scientific skills are included in their unit /topic focus that term. As part of this planning process, teachers in their year teams need to plan the following:
- Science lessons for each science unit they teach, which carefully plans for progression and depth.
- Use the agreed school lesson proforma to record the planning of each lesson which must include specific differentiation to meet all needs, important key questions, and AFL
- Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner
- Trips and or visits from experts who will enhance the learning experience (eg the dentist visits year 4 as part of their teeth care unit)
- An investigation / area of scientific enquiry for each half term topic/ unit. As a staff we have looked at the investigations across the school and mapped out which year group will do which to avoid repetition and ensure they build on previous scientific enquiry skills.
Impact
Our Science Curriculum is high quality, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- Teacher reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes.
- A celebration of learning in each class at some point through that unit which includes key questions and science vocabulary needed on display and some of the children’s work.
- Tracking of knowledge in pre and post learning quizzes for teacher assessment.
- Pupil discussions about their learning and regular book looks and feedback to staff from the science coordinator focusing on continuous improvement in planning, recording, marking and feedback.