Intent

We live in an increasingly scientific and technological age where children need to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to prepare them for life in the 21st century. They need to understand the uses and implications in Science today and for the future.

At Hunts Cross we believe every child should enjoy their experience of science, and the teaching of it should stimulate and promote natural curiosity and creative thought. It should be done through the use of first- hand practical experiences.

The children should have regular opportunities for working scientifically. This should involve a variety of different styles. E.g. observing over time, pattern seeking, identifying, classifying, fair testing and researching using secondary sources. In KS2, the children should make decisions about which types of enquiry are likely to be the best way of answering their questions.

As part of high-quality Science, the children need to:

• Develop secure scientific knowledge
• Use the correct Scientific vocabulary in discussions and written work
• ask questions and seek answers to them
• predict how things will behave
• make observations
• apply their Mathematical knowledge (collecting data, presenting and analysing)
• explain what is happening and make conclusions
• understand limitations and make changes to promote problem solving and resilience

Where possible, Science should be linked with other areas of the curriculum in a thematic approach.

Implementation

The science subject leader has devised a long term plan for science from EYFS through to Year Six. Each topic has been carefully chosen and placed strategically in a deliberate order to allow for coherence, sequencing and progression so that our pupils know more and remember more over time. We follow a FOCUS learning challenge scheme in line with the National curriculum expectations. This has been amended to suit the needs of our children and enhanced by the knowledge matrices produced by the ASE. Each topic has a specific set of objectives to be adhered to in order to ensure progression from EYFS through to Year Six. Each topic is driven by a key question and enhanced through our quality text approach. A knowledge mat for each topic outlines the key vocabulary and sticky knowledge to be taught within each unit. Each end of unit assessment task is designed to allow the children to showcase their understanding of what has been taught and enable the teacher to establish a secure judgement in regards to the progress made.

Impact

At Hunts Cross we use formative and summative assessments to monitor learning throughout our science curriculum. Assessment information is collected regularly and analysed by the science coordinator as part of our monitoring schedule. Monitoring in science includes: lesson observations, learning walks, book looks and pupil voice. All information obtained is reviewed and used to inform further developments.