Science

Subject Leader – Mrs Aitken

At St Mary’s and St Benedict’s Primary School, we aim to provide a science curriculum that is engaging, challenging, and inclusive for all children. We aim to foster a love of science in our pupils by providing them with opportunities to develop curiosity, ask questions, and explore the world around them through practical and hands-on experiences. We will ensure that our curriculum is well-sequenced and builds on prior knowledge, giving children the necessary skills to become confident and competent scientists. 

Science is a core subject within the National Curriculum. The 2014 National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all pupils:

• 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 answer scientific questions about the world around them
• Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future

In Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, science is taught weekly and PLAN Primary Science is used to inform teacher's planning. This has been adapted to incorporate a 2 year rolling programme to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum objectives in our school. The knowledge and skills in science document clearly identities progression as the children move through school. The children develop vital scientific skills of enquiry and teachers use TAPS (Teacher Assessment in Primary Science) lessons to ensure progression in these key areas. 

In our Reception class, children work within the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and science is taught through a variety of topics. Children learn how to compare things, looking at similarities and differences and use their senses to understand the world around them. They closely observe their environment to identify changes such as the seasons. We give children opportunities to talk about what they know, what they have learnt and give reasons for why things happen.

Throughout school, we make cross curricular links, which develops the children’s knowledge, understanding and awareness of how science is embedded into our everyday lives. The curriculum is enhanced and broadened through the use of the extensive outdoor area we have available at St Mary’s and St Benedict’s Primary School and through forest school activities, which all year groups participate in. Additionally, the whole school take part in extra-curricular science in the form of an annual science week and eductational visits.