Science

Intent

At St John’s, we recognise the importance of science in many aspects of everyday life. We aim to utilise its strengths in promoting the development of each and every child;

• Developing their knowledge and understanding of the world around them

• Developing their respect for the world around them

• Developing their curiosity and questioning around new concepts

• Developing their confidence to question their own prior knowledge and explore new answers

• Developing their ability to work together and value the ideas and opinions of others

• Developing their communication skills

• Developing their social and emotional wellbeing

The National Curriculum provides the framework for the development and progression of science knowledge and skills as the children move through St John’s School. At every stage, children will be encouraged to recall and build on their existing knowledge in conjunction with applying and developing their skills in enquiry, observation, classifying and investigating.

Children at St John’s will be encouraged and supported to follow their own line of questioning to build investigations, gather data and showcase their findings using a range of methods in every area of their science learning.

Whilst at St John’s children will develop an awareness of how science shapes their everyday lives and how it can shape them as individuals both now, and in the future. Furthermore, we endeavour to ensure that the science curriculum we provide, will equip our children with the knowledge, skills, confidence and inquisitiveness to further develop their love for science as they continue into the next stage of their education and beyond.

Implementation

Within the classroom, teachers will create a positive attitude to science; encouraging questions, celebrating curiosity to find the answers and reinforcing high expectations with regards to the belief that every child is capable of achieving the highest standards in their science learning.

Science will be taught once a week every term to allow time for children to delve into their science learning and be able to recall their previous learning more easily. It will provide the opportunity to keep building on recently acquired skills and knowledge, helping them to develop a scientific mind.

All teachers will:

• Revisit previous science learning on a regular basis to enable the retention of knowledge and vocabulary which will subsequently allow children to confidently build on this as they progress through the school. This may occur in any subject where the learning is relevant.

• Plan to build on children’s existing knowledge and skills through the provision of engaging lessons with:

- direct teaching of new knowledge and vocabulary

- carefully constructed teacher led tasks and activities

- questioning to challenge and promote independent enquiry

- time to investigate

- opportunities to solve problems using their prior and newly learnt skills and knowledge

- use of high quality resources to support learning

- use of the local environment to make the learning relevant and to promote positive learning attitudes associated with being outdoors

• Encourage and support children to:

- be curious and ask questions

- plan and carry out their own investigations

- select appropriate equipment and be able to use it safely

- work together and develop essential teamwork skills

- see how science fits into their everyday life and how it may shape their future

- interpret their findings and communicate these clearly in a variety of ways

• Regularly assess children’s knowledge and skills through carefully planned activities and questioning. Identification of any gaps in learning will be swiftly targeted and addressed in order to stop any child falling behind.

Impact

Through following the approach outlined in the implementation stage, children at St Johns have access to an engaging and fun science education that provides them with strong foundations on which they can build as they progress throughout their education and beyond into the wider world. By devoting more time to investigations and ensuring that there are opportunities to do this for every area of science, children are becoming more confident to explore and ask questions about the world around them. This has subsequently built positive attitudes to their learning as children become more aware that there isn’t always just one answer. The increased focus on ensuring previous learning is revisited shows an improvement in recall of knowledge, skills and vocabulary. As this continues, the strong foundations previously mentioned will become fully embedded and help to open up a world of possibilities to every individual at St John’s.

Please click here to see class specific Science subject information