Science

St. Thomas More Primary Science Curriculum

At St Thomas More, our vision is to provide all pupils with a high-quality science curriculum which enables them to confidently explore and discover the world around them, so that they have a deeper understanding of the world we live in.

Our aims

At St Thomas More, we aim to deliver a high-quality science education which is embedded in excellent Catholic education and provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge, concepts and processes, pupils will be encouraged to develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. We will provide a progressive and carefully sequenced curriculum that meets the expectations set out in the National Curriculum and Early Years Statutory Framework. Pupils will have the confidence to ask questions, investigate, find answers and discuss what they have learnt, over time, using scientific vocabulary allowing them to understand the uses of science in the rapidly changing world around them.

Our intent

At St Thomas More, we intend to do this by:

Allowing our children to develop substantive knowledge and a sound understanding of the world around them through a carefully sequenced curriculum.
Modelling and teaching disciplinary knowledge and skills so that children can think and work scientifically. This knowledge contains the what, why, when, where and way of working scientifically skills.
Equipping pupils with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future, referring to prominent scientists.
Providing clear, precise explanations and clear modelling to support understanding.
Helping our children to be inquisitive and acquire a growing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of scientific ideas through scientific enquiries that help them to ask and answer questions about the world around them as well as explore scientific lines of enquiry. Encouraging children to reflect on what they have found out.
Creating scientists who can apply their knowledge of science when making predictions, conducting experiments, solving problems and explaining concepts confidently.
Encouraging pupils to think scientifically and gain a deep understanding of fundamental scientific knowledge, concepts and develop scientific rich vocabulary in order to prepare children for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world.
Delivering high quality science lessons to harness children’s excitement and natural curiosity and that build upon previous learning and are scaffolded to meet all learners needs in order to ensure they know more and remember more about the products and practices of science.

How Science is taught in our school

Children start to explore aspects of Science in the early years, when they discover more about themselves and the world in which they live. The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework is used to support teaching and learning, and Science is covered in the ‘Understanding of the World’ area of learning. Science in the early years is carefully planned so that pupils are introduced to a wide-ranging vocabulary and are provided with the opportunities to build their own understanding of the world through play and exploration of their immediate environment. Children are invited to investigate and lead by their own questions and discoveries. There is a balance between adult-led activities and child-led learning through continuous provision which enables children to independently explore and begin to develop their skills of observation, prediction, discussion and asking questions. Children are encouraged to explore and work with a range of materials inside and outside of the classroom. The EYFS is used to develop a broad scientific vocabulary and provides the platform for developing scientific concepts that will be built on in later years in KS1 and KS2.

The Science National Curriculum is then taught from Year 1 to Year 6, where pupils learn more about simple physical phenomena, properties of materials, animals and humans and how substances and materials relate to one another and can change in different conditions. Children follow a structured programme of learning, where these science topics are taught in an age- appropriate way, as they progress through school.

Our Science curriculum pays close attention to the guidance provided by the National Curriculum in its sequence and content which we have sequenced into meaningful and connected ‘chunks’ of content to reduce the load on the working memory. The sequence of substantive and disciplinary knowledge enables pupils to become ‘more expert’ as they progress through the curriculum; accumulating, connecting and making sense of the rich substantive and disciplinary knowledge and skills.

Our curriculum is organised into three distinct subject domains: biology, physics and chemistry. All pupils are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Our Science curriculum provides children with both the scientific knowledge and skills, this includes:

Substantive knowledge– this is the subject knowledge of important concepts and explicit vocabulary used to learn about the content.

Disciplinary knowledge– this is knowing how to collect, use, interpret and understand and evaluate the evidence from scientific processes. Pupils construct understanding by applying substantive knowledge to questioning and planning, observing, performing a range of tests, accurately measuring, comparing through identifying and classifying, using observations and gathering data to help answer questions, explaining and reporting, predicting, concluding, improving, and seeking patterns. We call it ‘Working Scientifically.’
Scientific analysis – this is identifying and classifying, pattern seeking, research, observing over time and comparative testing. We call it ‘Thinking Scientifically’.

Useful website links

Links for Children and Parents

KS1 Science guides and clips

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z6svr82

KS2 Science guides and clips

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2pfb9q

NASA kids

https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html

Games and Apps

The children’s university of Manchester

https://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/learning-activities/science/

Ideas for investigations- ask an adult’s permission for guidance!