Sankey Valley St James CE Primary School

Primary Science Quality Mark

Wee are very proud and pleased to announce that we have been awarded the Primary Science Qulaity Mark. Please read the document for more information on what we have acheived. 

Children are encouraged to notice things around them, kindling curiosity, exploring and investigating further.

Children learn from high quality, enthusiastic teaching becoming confident learners questioning, testing and investigating their own ideas.

Children are inspired to continue their scientific learning beyond the classroom.

Children leave our school with a secure understanding of the world around them and make links with Science in their own lives.

Science skills, knowledge, understanding and working scientifically enable our children to develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through the five different types of enquiries, which help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them. We want our children to be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.

Our pupils and staff love learning about Science and we work hard to develop and build upon our Science knowledge. We encourage active learning and questioning to promote independence and resilience. We provide a progressive curriculum and engage with our children in using their prior learning to develop and build upon their knowledge and vocabulary for the unit of work. Teaching encourages children to explore concepts and develop the necessary skills to break down ideas, promoting resilience in finding solutions and recording learning. Investigations are designed to capture enthusiasm and support knowledge acquisition.

We utilise the school environment, forest school and links with our local community to promote aspirational views of Science in the world of work. Pupils from each year group as ‘Science Ambassadors’ promote and support our Science learning throughout the school.

If you are looking for some Science enquiries for you to try at home have a look at these websites for some investigations.

http://www.sciencefun.org/kidszone/experiments/

https://gosciencekids.com/

The BBC Bitesize website gives some further information, videos and quizzes about the Science we cover in our curriculum:

KS2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z2pfb9q

KS1 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z6svr824.

Our vision in Science is to provide a Science curriculum which enables all children to explore their own ideas through hands on, practical experiences demonstrating their Science knowledge and understanding.     

We want our children to ask questions and be inspired, motivated and engage in the joy of discovery.

Our Science curriculum is broad, balanced and designed to match the full range of pupil’s needs and ensures continuity and progression, including in scientific enquiry and pupil’s understanding of how Science works. The curriculum allows for a balance across biology, chemistry and physics and is designed to ensure children build upon prior learning of knowledge, skills and vocabulary.

Across all year groups our children are taught to work scientifically through the five lines of enquiry: observing over time, pattern seeking, identifying, classifying and grouping, comparative and fair testing and researching using secondary sources.

Early Years

• We aim to provide our pupils with a broad, play-based experience of Science in a wide range of contexts and activities linked to Understanding the World and Physical Development – Health and Self Care.
• Understanding the World involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
• Activities are planned for children to play, explore, actively learn and develop their thinking skills in Science through focused, continuous and enhanced provision.

KS1 Outcomes

• Pupils will experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They will be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice.
• They will be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using the five different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions.
• They will begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways.
• Most of the learning about Science will be done through the use of first-hand practical experiences, but there will also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos.
• Working Scientifically – During KS1, pupils will use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:
• - asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways

 - observing closely, using simple equipment

 - performing simple tests                      

 - identifying and classifying

- using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions

- gathering and recording data to help in answering questions.

• Year 1 Programme of Study - Animals and the human body, everyday materials and plants.
• Year 2 Programme of Study - Uses of everyday materials, animals and humans and living things and their habitats.            

​KS2 Outcomes

• Pupils will broaden their scientific view of the world around them and develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They will explore and talk about their ideas; asking their own questions about what they observe and scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically.
• They will encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They will select the most appropriate ways to answer Science questions using the five different types of scientific enquiry.
• Pupils will draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.
• Working Scientifically – By the end of KS2, pupils will use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:

- planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions

- recognising and controlling variables where necessary

- taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate

- recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs

- using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests

-  reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations

- identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.

• Year 3 Programme of Study - Rocks, light, animals including humans and forces and magnets.
• Year 4 Programme of Study - Sound, electricity, animals including humans and states of matter.
• Year 5 Programme of Study - Properties and changes of materials, light, Earth and space and forces.
• Year 6 Programme of Study - Evolution and inheritance, living things and their habitats, animals including humans and electricity.