Intent
Science teaching at Liberty Primary aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.
At Liberty Primary, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as Plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into their long-term memory. All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts taught should be reinforced by focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.
Implementation
Teachers follow Cornerstones Curriculum model which includes scientific knowledge and skills development in all topics. In addition, some topics such as Enchanted Woodland, Blue Abyss and Predator are rooted in a scientific starting point. At KS1 the emphasis is on practical and oral work to support the development of scientific enquiry. At KS2 the emphasis is still on scientific enquiry with opportunities for children to apply their scientific knowledge. The plans are reviewed regularly to ensure the topic areas are part of a holistic cross-curricular approach wherever possible. They build upon children’s prior learning as well as develop their skills and knowledge so that children are increasingly challenged as they move through the school.
In order to achieve this at Liberty we ensure all pupils learn to work scientifically through opportunities to:
- Ask questions
- Recognise questions can be answered in different ways
- Use a range of equipment
- Identify, classifying and grouping
- Observe over time
- Gather data, pattern seeking
- Carry out comparative and fair testing
- Research
- Present outcomes
Impact
At Liberty primary school, children will be leaving Year 6 with a broad range of skills and knowledge to take on and experience Secondary School Sciences by diving deeper into more specific areas of the subject focusing on Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
We will measure the impact throughout each topic, teachers will monitor pupils' progress in scientific knowledge, understanding and skills by;
- Observation and questioning
- Marking of work
- Discussions with the pupils
- Assessment will be based on lesson objectives and is the responsibility of the class teacher.
The leadership team and Science coordinator will monitor progress by;
- Regular book looks
- Lesson observations