Science
At Wadhurst Primary School, we aim to inspire children to be inquisitive learners who are motivated to explore the world and universe around us. Our progressive curriculum has been designed to build on prior learning from year to year, starting with Preschool and Early Years’ work on Understanding the World. Throughout this, we will foster an attitude that promotes respect for all living things and our environment.
With curiosity being celebrated within the classroom, children are encouraged to ask questions and will be given opportunities to develop their scientific enquiry skills. Children will build a confident understanding of the substantive knowledge in the curriculum, whilst developing their disciplinary skills through working scientifically. As science is all around us, we aim to provide meaningful links between the knowledge learnt in the classroom and our local and wider community.
By the end of their time at Wadhurst, children will be able to apply their knowledge when conducting investigations, explain their conclusions confidently and will be prepared to continue being curious and interested about their surroundings
Why do we use the scheme we use? At Wadhurst we work on a two year cycle and use the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC) as a scheme. The Primary Knowledge Curriculum places “powerful knowledge” at the heart of learning, empowering children to acquire knowledge that takes them beyond their lived experiences. Through a deep respect of the traditions of each unique subject, the PKC recognises the identity of the disciplines that are studied.
At its core, a knowledge-rich curriculum enables all children, regardless of background, to be provided with the opportunities to succeed in later life. A knowledge-rich curriculum exposes children to ambitious content that has been highly specified and well-sequenced, leaving nothing to chance.
The PKC science curriculum will lay the foundation for pupils to understand what the discipline of science tells us about the world. The aim is to ignite children’s love for science by showing them what fascinating things the human race has learned about the world.
Within a carefully planned curriculum, children are introduced to the inner workings of the human body, animals and the environments they live in, plants and their features, forces of nature, and what lies beyond the visible world. Children are taught to apply their knowledge and conduct their own scientific enquiries to answer questions, working scientifically to develop essential skills in science.
Our science curriculum builds knowledge incrementally year on year to revisit and build upon children’s knowledge and understanding of key concepts. Pupils will also study the lives and achievements of a diverse range of scientists, including Lewis Howard Latimer, Thomas Edison, Jabir ibn Hayyan. Their disciplinary knowledge will flourish over time enabling them to see the importance of science as a subject and how it translates into the world of research and work, as well as understanding what scientists do and how they impact upon our lives.
Substantive knowledge: Knowledge of the products of Science, such as concepts, laws, theories and models.
Biology: Seeks to understand living organisms and life. Chemistry: Explains the behaviour of matter. Physics: Builds its explanations on measurable quantities that can be put into numerical relationships.
Disciplinary knowledge: Knowledge of how scientific knowledge is generated and grows, including how to carry out practical procedures.
- methods that scientists use to answer questions
- apparatus and techniques, including measurement.
- data analysis
- how science uses evidence to develop explanations
Our Principles For Great Teaching In Science
If our children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the reflection on what they know and remember in regards to our mapped knowledge goals for each year group, tracking knowledge in pre- and post-learning challenges and through ongoing formative assessment opportunities in and across lessons. The impact of our science curriculum is that our pupils are equipped with the knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the next stage of their curriculum and for life as an adult in the world outside the classroom.
We expect that when children leave Wadhurst children will be able to:
- ask questions and develop a line of enquiry based on observations of the real world, alongside prior knowledge and experience
- make predictions using scientific knowledge and understanding
- select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiries to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables
- use appropriate techniques, apparatus, and materials during fieldwork and laboratory work, paying attention to health and safety
- make and record observations and measurements using a range of methods for different investigations; and evaluate the reliability of methods and suggest possible improvements
We will be able to evidence that children have achieved this through.......
- Recorded learning
- Discussion tasks
- Carefully designed lessons that provide opportunities for adults to continually assess for understanding both in science and across the curriculum
- Questioning and feedback given to assess for understanding against small steps
- Assessment tasks e.g. Quizzes, hexagon tasks, fact files, investigation write-ups.
Beyond Wadhurst
We believe that when children leave Wadhurst CE Primary, they will have developed an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them. They will be inquisitive, respectful and curious and will be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
