Curriculum - Science
Our vision is to foster a long-lasting love for science in our pupils by creating curiosity and reflective thinking, inspiring them to question their surroundings. We strive to encourage children to ask questions, observe, and explore scientific concepts. Our objective is to enhance our students' inquisitive nature curiosity by guiding them to explore and discover the world around them, thereby deepening their understanding of the world that we live in.
Curriculum Rationale
The science curriculum exhibits cohesion and progression, enabling students to enhance their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Our systematic approach to teaching and learning ensures that children develop an understanding of scientific processes and build on their understanding of the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
The arrangement of science units have been carefully planned, allowing children to revisit and reinforce their previous learning from both earlier year groups and units. Each unit covers the National Curriculum requirements and has been split into six key areas:
- Plants
- Animals, including humans
- Living things and habitats
- Materials
- Energy
- Forces, Earth and space
Each year group has an optional exploratory ‘Making connections’ unit that delves beyond the essential curriculum, integrating prior knowledge and skills to induce excitement and to provide an additional method of assessing scientific attainment.
Bridgtown Primary School use the the Kapow Primary Science scheme as a basis for designing their Science lessons. The scheme is designed as a spiral curriculum where essential knowledge and skills are revisited with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning during weekly lessons. A range of engaging recall activities promote frequent pupil reflection on prior learning, ensuring new learning is approached with confidence.
Science in EYFS
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum promotes children's comprehension of Science through the organisation and delivery of 'Understanding the World.' Children investigate objects, materials, and living things, using all of their senses to observe similarities, differences, patterns, and transformations. The environment and skilled educators stimulate curiosity, fostering exploratory play. Children are motivated to ask questions about why things happen and how things work. We encourage our children to utilize their natural environment for exploration. Outdoor activities include exploring mini-beasts and their habitats, observing seasonal changes and weather, and studying plants and animals. Children partake in activities involving various malleable materials and utilize the nature kitchen to blend natural materials and explore the outcomes.
What does Science look like in EYFS?
Science in KS1 & KS2
Our Science curriculum is designed:
- To stimulate curiosity and excitement in the subject and to enable them to develop into considerate young people who care about the plants and animals in the world around them
- To provide a relevant, progressive and well-structured Science curriculum which enables children to develop and master a broad knowledge and wide range of skills
Our Science curriculum is structured providing for each key stage and year group:
- A clear list of end points
- Progressive knowledge and skills which will shape children as Scientists
- A clear list of vocabulary both appropriate to Science and progressive through the key stages
