Science

Aims and Objectives

Our Science Policy follows The National Curriculum 2014 for Science Guidelines and aims to ensure that all pupils:

• developscientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics;
• develop 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;
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand theuses and implications of Science, today and for the future.

Purpose of Science

A high-quality Science education provides foundations for understanding the world. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Through building key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how key knowledge and concepts can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave and analyse causes.

In teaching Science we are developing our children to have:

• a positive attitude towards Science and an awareness of its fascination;
• an understanding of Science through a process of enquiry and investigation;
• confidence and competence in scientific knowledge, concepts and skills;
• an ability to reason, predict, think logically and to work systematically and accurately;
• an ability to communicate scientifically;
• the initiative to work both independently and in co-operation with others;
• the ability and meaning to use and apply science across the curriculum and real life.

Curriculum

The programmes of study for Science are set out year-by-year for Key Stages 1 and 2. We are however, only required to teach the relevant programme of study by the end of the key stage. Within each key stage, school has the flexibility to introduce content earlier or later than set out in the programme of study and may introduce key stage content during an earlier key stage if appropriate. Teachers will base their planning on the programmes of study for their relevant year groups.

Early Years

We teach science in the Foundation stage as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. It comes within ‘Understanding the World’ in the EYFS. Children must be supported in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world. Their learning must be supported through offering opportunities for them to use a range of tools safely; exploring creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments and in real-life situations; undertake practical ‘experiments’; and work with a range of materials.

Key Stage 1

The main focus of science teaching in Key Stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should 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 should be done through the use of first-hand practical experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos. Pupils should read and spell scientific vocabulary at a level consistent with their reading and spelling knowledge at Key Stage 1.

By the end of Key Stage 1

Working scientifically

The pupil can, using appropriate scientific language from the national curriculum:

• ask their own questions about what they notice
• use different types of scientific enquiry to gather and record data, using simple equipment where appropriate, to answer questions:
  • observing changes over time
  • noticing patterns
  • grouping and classifying things
  • carrying out simple comparative tests
  • finding things out using secondary sources of information
• communicate their ideas, what they do and what they find out in a variety of ways.

Science content

The pupil can:

• name and locate parts of the human body, including those related to the senses [year 1], and describe the importance of exercise, a balanced diet and hygiene for humans [year 2]
• describe the basic needs of animals for survival and the main changes as young animals, including humans, grow into adults [year 2]
• describe the basic needs of plants for survival and the impact of changing these and the main changes as seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants [year 2]
• identify whether things are alive, dead or have never lived [year 2]
• describe and compare the observable features of animals from a range of groups [year 1]
• group animals according to what they eat [year 1], describe how animals get their food from other animals and/or from plants, and use simple food chains to describe these relationships [year 2]
• describe seasonal changes [year 1]
• name different plants and animals and describe how they are suited to different habitats [year 2]
• distinguish objects from materials, describe their properties, identify and group everyday materials [year 1] and compare their suitability for different uses [year 2].

Key Stage 2

Lower Key Stage 2

Science teaching in Lower Key Stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.

Pupils read and spell scientific vocabulary correctly and with confidence, using their growing reading and spelling knowledge.

‘Working scientifically’ must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive Science content in the programme of study.

Upper Key Stage 2

The main focus of Science teaching in Upper Key Stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They do this through exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically.

At Upper Key Stage 2, they encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They select the most appropriate ways to answer Science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils 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. Pupils read, spell and pronounce scientific vocabulary correctly.

‘Working and thinking scientifically’ must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive Science content in the programme of study.

By the end of Key Stage 2

Working scientifically

The pupil can, using appropriate scientific language from the national curriculum:

• describe and evaluate their own and others’ scientific ideas related to topics in the national curriculum (including ideas that have changed over time), using evidence from a range of sources
• ask their own questions about the scientific phenomena that they are studying, and select the most appropriate ways to answer these questions, recognising and controlling variables where necessary (i.e. observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests, and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources)
• use a range of scientific equipment to take accurate and precise measurements or readings, with repeat readings where appropriate
• record data and results using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• draw conclusions, explain and evaluate their methods and findings, communicating these in a variety of ways
• raise further questions that could be investigated, based on their data and observations.

Science content

The pupil can:

• name and describe the functions of the main parts of the digestive (year 4), musculoskeletal (year 3) and circulatory systems (year 6); and describe and compare different reproductive processes and life cycles in animals (year 5)
• describe the effects of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on how the body functions (year 6)
• name, locate and describe the functions of the main parts of plants, including those involved in reproduction (year 5) and transporting water and nutrients (year 3)
• use the observable features of plants, animals and microorganisms to group, classify and identify them into broad groups, using keys or other methods (year 6)
• construct and interpret food chains (year 4)
• describe the requirements of plants for life and growth (year 3); and explain how environmental changes may have an impact on living things (year 4)
• use the basic ideas of inheritance, variation and adaptation to describe how living things have changed over time and evolved (year 6); and describe how fossils are formed (year 3) and provide evidence for evolution (year 6)
• group and identify materials (year 5), including rocks (year 3), in different ways according to their properties, based on first-hand observation; and justify the use of different everyday materials for different uses, based on their properties (year 5)
• describe the characteristics of different states of matter and group materials on this basis; and describe how materials change state at different temperatures, using this to explain everyday phenomena, including the water cycle (year 4)
• identify and describe what happens when dissolving occurs in everyday situations; and describe how to separate mixtures and solutions into their components (year 5)
• identify, with reasons, whether changes in materials are reversible or not (year 5)
• use the idea that light from light sources, or reflected light, travels in straight lines and enters our eyes to explain how we see objects (year 6), and the formation (year 3), shape (year 6) and size of shadows (year 3)
• use the idea that sounds are associated with vibrations, and that they require a medium to travel through, to explain how sounds are made and heard (year 4)
• describe the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the features of its source; and between the volume of a sound, the strength of the vibrations and the distance from its source (year 4)
• describe the effects of simple forces that involve contact (air and water resistance, friction) (year 5), that act at a distance (magnetic forces, including those between like and unlike magnetic poles) (year 3), and gravity (year 5)
• identify simple mechanisms, including levers, gears and pulleys, that increase the effect of a force (year 5)
• use simple apparatus to construct and control a series circuit, and describe how the circuit may be affected when changes are made to it; and use recognised symbols to represent simple series circuit diagrams (year 6)
• describe the shapes and relative movements of the Sun, Moon, Earth and other planets in the solar system; and explain the apparent movement of the sun across the sky in terms of the Earth’s rotation and that this results in day and night (year 5).