Science

Science Co-ordinator: Mrs Carly Kesterton

Our curriculum is designed to develop inquisitive learners with the knowledge and skills that they need to understand and recognise the importance of Science in daily life. We want our children to develop the Scientific knowledge and skills to inspire them to explore, discover and question natural phenomena and encourage them to respect living organisms and the physical environment.

The planning and sequencing of our curriculum will enable pupils to build on previous learning and enable children to know more, remember more and do more. Scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding knowledge and skills into long-term memory. As children move through the school, we have organised our topics carefully to allow children to build their knowledge within Science and through links with other subjects such as Maths, Geography and Computing.

As a Catholic school, we help our children to develop their CSPP Virtues and Values. This leads our Science curriculum to encourage learners to be curious about natural phenomena, attentive to their experiences and active by striving to change what they can for the better.

Our curriculum aims to:

• Promote enjoyment of learning through practical investigations, exploration and discussion;
• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics;
• Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through different types of Science enquiries that help them to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them;
• Ensure they are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future;
• Critically evaluate evidence and present scientific information systematically, clearly and accurately.

How to Help your Child at Home

You will receive a Knowledge Organiser for each Science topic your child is taught. This shows the key content that your child will be taught and is a good starting point for conversations about what your child is learning. Please remember that these are given out at the start of the unit and your child will learn progressively across the term. Encourage your child to tell you about what they are currently learning using this as a prompt. Can they talk you through any of the images and diagrams? Can they define or use any of the key vocabulary? Looking back at previous Knowledge Organisers is also really useful to recap previous learning to help embed knowledge over time.

Other key skills in Science include asking questions, considering how we can find answers and testing those answers. Encourage your child to ask questions about the things that they see. This could be in nature, in the home or about their body. There are also many different experiments that can be dome at home using little or no equipment. Have a look below for some great websites with loads of ideas. Don’t panic about not knowing all the answers! Let your child explain what they think is happening and why. Value their ideas and explore where these come from, rather than just focusing on the correct Scientific answer. Another key skill in Science is to use other sources of information to find answers so don’t be afraid to work with your child to find an answer online. See below for a range of child-friendly websites that provide simple explanations and information about a range of topics.

Here are some open-ended questions that may help you start a conversation with your child.

• Why do you think that happens?
• How can we…?
• Why do we need to…?
• What happens when…?
• If we…, then what do you think will happen?

Do you think that always happens? When not? Why not?

USEFUL WEBSITES

KS1 Science

KS2 Science