Science

Intent:

Science teaching at Greenhaugh 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 Greenhaugh Primary School, Scientific Enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. T opics, such as Plants and Animals, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two and to serve as a crucial introduction to biology, physics and chemistry.  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; recording data; planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their own 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.
 
Implementation:

As part of the planning process, teachers need to plan the following:

A cycle of lessons for each subject, which carefully plans for progression and depth;

A low stakes quiz which is tested regularly to support learners’ ability to block learning and increase space in the working memory;

Challenge questions for pupils to apply their learning in a philosophical/open manner;

Trips and visits from experts who will enhance the learning experience.
 
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:

A reflection on standards achieved against the planned curriculum outcomes including Key Performance Indicator’s (KPI's);

A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school;

Tracking of knowledge in pre and post learning quizzes;

Pupil discussions about their learning.


As a school, we are going to introduce knowledge organisers which outlines knowledge (including vocabulary) all children must master which will be shared with parents to help embed and develop the children’s Scientific learning and help them to become expert, confident and curious explorers and Scientists.
 

Investigating plants and how they grow.

A visit to the local meadow to identify minibeasts and their habitats.