Science at Mab Lane Primary

Science Curriculum Rationale 2023/24

Children are scientific by nature. We need to instil a love of science from an early age. The truth is that we are all born scientists.  We are programmed to be curious and to wonder why. We must equip children with the skills and knowledge to go on the scientific pursuit of answering the why, how, and what if questions they pose. We must nurture their natural curiosity and ensure it is not lost as they progress through school and grow older.  At Mab Lane Primary School, we enable children to develop their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, processes, and skills.  Science should not be seen as a subject in isolation, but rather one which, wherever possible, encompasses a wide range of cross-curricular activities, drawing from and contributing to, many other subjects. Working scientifically is a core part of the science curriculum. It is the test not of children’s knowledge but their science skills. Their ability to think and act like a scientist. These are the vital tools we need to equip the next generation of scientists with. We encourage our children to work scientifically so that children become familiar with asking questions, making predictions, setting up tests, observing and measuring, recording data, interpreting, and communicating and evaluating results.  Our aim is to ensure children are provided with opportunities to think and reason about science concepts and ideas. 

Curriculum Intent

The science curriculum promotes curiosity and a love and thirst for learning. It is ambitious and empowers our children to become independent and resilient.  We want to equip them with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the science National Curriculum, but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.  We enrich their time in our school with memorable, unforgettable experiences and provide opportunities which are normally out of reach – this piques their interests and passions. We encourage our children to work scientifically to carry out their own investigations. Science at Foundation Stage is covered in the 'Understanding the World' area of the EYFS Curriculum. It is introduced indirectly through activities that encourage every child to explore, problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions, and talk about the world around them. In KS1, children are encouraged to work scientifically and observe, question, classify and compare and contrast; recording their findings in various ways, including bar charts and diagrams.  In KS2, children are provided with rich opportunities to design, carry out and evaluate their own practical investigations that help them to develop their scientific skills.  

Curriculum Implementation

The curriculum has been carefully built and the learning opportunities and assessment milestones for each year group crafted to ensure progression and repetition in terms of embedding key learning, knowledge and skills. For example, the way materials is taught in our school has been adapted so that it is revisited in each phase. In KS1, the children tackle ‘Everyday Materials’ where they look at the practical uses of everyday materials. In lower KS2, Year 4 explore ‘States of Matter’ and look at solids, liquids and gases, changes of state, evaporation, condensation and the water cycle. In upper KS2, Year 5 the children face ‘Materials – Properties and Changes’ where they examine changes to materials that create new materials that are usually not reversible.  Science subject specific characteristics, which we expect the children to demonstrate, have been developed and shared with all stakeholders. These characteristics underpin all work in science and form a focal point for display areas and provide a common subject specific vocabulary for staff and pupils. These characteristics are:

The ability to think independently and raise questions about working scientifically and the knowledge and skills that it brings.

Confidence and competence in the full range of practical skills, taking the initiative in, for example, planning and carrying out scientific investigations.

Excellent scientific knowledge and understanding which is demonstrated in written and verbal explanations, solving challenging problems and reporting scientific findings.

High levels of originality, imagination or innovation in the application of skills.

The ability to undertake practical work in a variety of contexts, including fieldwork.

A passion for science and its application in past, present and future technologies.

We empower our staff to organise their own year group curriculum under the guidance of our subject leaders. Teachers are best placed to make these judgements. Staff develop year group specific long-term curriculum maps which identify when the different subjects and topics will be taught across the academic year. The vast majority of subjects are taught discretely but staff make meaningful links across subjects. They link prior knowledge to new learning to deepen children’s learning. For example, in Year 5 when the children explore ‘Earth and Space’ they also use the text ‘Cosmic’ by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, a local author, in English and use Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh as inspiration for their topic in art and design. Our children are taught the right, connected knowledge.

Our short-term plans are produced on a weekly and daily basis. We use these to set out the learning objectives for each lesson, identifying engaging activities and resources which will be used to achieve them.

We encourage staff to teach a weekly science lesson.  This helps to ensure sufficient time is allocated to science and that scientific subject matter can be revisited frequently. We believe that by crafting our curriculum this way, we improve the potential for our children to retain what they have been taught, to alter their long-term memory and thus improve the rates of progress they make.

Curriculum Impact

We use both formative and summative assessment information in every science lesson. Staff use this information to inform their short-term planning and short-term interventions. This helps us provide the best possible support for all of our pupils, including the more able. The assessment milestones for each phase have been carefully mapped out and further broken down for each year group. This means that skills in science are progressive and build year on year.

Our staff use science formative assessment grids to systematically assess what the children know as the topic progresses and inform their future planning. These formative assessment grids then inform summative assessment judgements for each topic.

Assessment information is collected frequently and analysed as part of our monitoring cycle. This process provides an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the quality of education in science. A comprehensive monitoring cycle is developed at the beginning of each academic year. This identifies when monitoring is undertaken. Monitoring in science includes: book scrutinies, lesson observations and/or learning walks, pupil/parent and/or staff voice.

All of this information is gathered and reviewed. It is used to inform further curriculum developments and provision is adapted accordingly.