Science

In line with the EYFS and National Curricula, science teaching at Great Rollright aims to give all children a strong understanding of the scientific world. This is achieved by acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help pupils think scientifically, gain an understanding of scientific processes, and an understanding of the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. We believe that a high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Enquiry skills are embedded in each topic and these are revisited and developed throughout our children’s time at school.

At Great Rollright,  the curriculum gives our children the opportunity to become confident learners through substantive and disciplinary knowledge, where practical and immersive experiences compliment the rich knowledge taught to them. The science curriculum is broken down into small step, sequential learning, with clear learning objectives and progression of skills and knowledge mapped out. Topics, such as Plants, are taught in KS1 and studied again in further detail throughout KS2. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this knowledge into the long-term memory

In EYFS we believe that their science education should begin in as practical manner as possible.  There are lots of opportunities provided in our outdoor learning area, as well as taught and adult-led guided sessions to develop vocabulary and concepts.  We also build on this in Forest School lessons to explore how our local environment can help them develop scientific skills and knowledge.

In Years 1-6, our science curriculum is carefully planned to take into consideration the Biology, Chemistry and Physics strands of science.  We have ensured that these strands have been covered, making best use of thematic links where appropriate to other areas of the curriculum.  In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in Science, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.  Alongside this, to deepen our knowledge delivery we also aim to use high quality texts to allow pupils to explore knowledge in context.  Finally, we aim to include practical learning opportunities to develop pupils enquiry skills, and these have been specifically planned for to ensure depth and progression across the school.

Teachers at Great Rollright continuously monitor the impact of the Science curriculum, and whether the work pupils do over time matches the intended curriculum. We use the benchmark of our clearly sequenced curriculum to evaluate whether what we want our pupils to know and do well are evident in their outcomes in daily lessons, end of unit outcomes and ultimately performance in end of key stage 2 assessment . Outcomes of this continuous process are recorded as evidence which is used by Teachers to evaluate the implementation of the curriculum and adjust sequences of work accordingly.
As a church school, we also evaluate whether pupils are demonstrating our core spiritual and moral values by their attitudes and behaviour in science lessons.  We triangulate evidence to ensure are pupils have a love for learning by their curiosity and wonder about the natural world, living things, and how things work.  That they show respect by understanding the nature, processes, and methods of science, and the impact of science on society  That they are able to demonstrate courage by being brave enough to wonder “why” and “what if,” even if it challenges common assumptions.  That they can see how science can present truth based on scientific evidence to support theories and draw conclusions – and that this is an ongoing process.

 

Science Long Term Planning

Whole School Long Term Planning

 

Progression of Skills

Whole School Progression of Skills