Science - Dodworth St John the Baptist Primary Academy

“A scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, but one who asks the right questions.” – Claude Levi-Strauss

Intent

Children start their science learning journey as soon as they enter our Early Years Foundation Stage. Nursery children work towards the goals set out in the DfE Development Matters Guidance: Understanding the World (2021). In Reception, children work towards the Early Learning Goals, as set out in the EYFS Statutory Framework (2021).

Vocabulary is a priority for our science curriculum. Children begin to develop their scientific vocabulary from the very start of their education and our aim is for them to be ready to progress into Key Stage 1 at the end of EYFS.

The units studied during the Early Years mirror those studied in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 and are headed under the broader areas of biology, chemistry, and physics: animals, excluding humans; humans; living things and their habitats; plants; seasonal changes; materials, including changing materials; electricity; light; forces; sound; and earth and space.

From Year 1, we follow the National Curriculum for science which has been carefully mapped out to ensure full coverage of all National Curriculum science objectives. A granular sequence of learning has been written to support the implementation of the long-term plan and to ensure essential knowledge and vocabulary is being taught at each key stage, allowing children to progress into the next key stage, confidently. Having a carefully written sequence also ensures a good balance and breadth of teaching for acquiring scientific knowledge and for developing working scientifically skills through the five enquiry types.

Our science curriculum is accessible for all children yet provides appropriate challenge for higher attainers. Our science curriculum aims to meet the needs of all our learners through providing opportunities for children to express their understanding in different ways, for example through verbal presentations, creating models, posters or written reports.

Progression

By providing opportunities for exploration, children, regardless of their previous experiences, can gain first-hand experiences and build on their own scientific knowledge and understanding, which can then be built upon through discussions with their peers and class teacher, and further developed through the teaching and learning of new knowledge, which is then explored and tested out through investigative work. Children are encouraged to work collaboratively, to ask questions and develop ways of answering them to drive their learning forward.

Scientific Enquiry

There are 5 types of scientific enquiry highlighted in the national curriculum for science and opportunities to plan and carry out each of the enquiry types have been written into our sequence of learning

.When children plan and carry out scientific enquiries, they also learn how to develop their working scientifically skills. These are:

- Asking questions
- Making predictions
- Setting up tests
- Observing and measuring
- Recording data
- Interpreting and communicating results
- Evaluating

Our science curriculum provides opportunities for children to revisit their prior learning. Each lesson starts with a knowledge check activity, and we also use quizzes, games, and other practical activities to assess children’s knowledge and understanding. These activities provide explicit opportunities for children to make direct links between prior and current learning.

Science 2023-2025

Through science lessons, we also want children to understand that science is ever evolving and not finite. We do this by integrating key scientists into our curriculum, which highlights how scientific thinking has changed over time, and how it continues to change. To support us with this we use ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’.

This resource forms cross-curricular links between history and science and offers a series of engaging practical investigations based on the scientific work of a historic figure that encourage children to generate their own questions to explore and develop their understanding further. The work of 10 famous historic scientists is linked to the work of contemporary scientists, giving children an appreciation of how wider scientific understanding develops over time.