Science
* Our Science curriculum has recently been reviewed. The revised curriculum will be implemented from September 2023. Details of this can be found at the bottom of this page.
Intent
At St Clement’s & St John’s Infant Schools, our vision is for every child to have confidence, compassion, creativity and curiosity in all areas of learning, including Science. In modern times, it is essential that we inspire pupils to develop a love of Science, as well encourage their natural curiosity about the world. We believe every child should have this opportunity and we strive to provide an education that emboldens these values.
This is achieved by fulfilling the National Curriculum for Science and providing a wide range of opportunities for enquiry and exploration. We aim to provide the foundations for understanding the world in which the children live, by providing a high-quality science education. We aim to ensure that every pupil has a variety of learning opportunities that focus on our school vision. Our science curriculum will provide the children with fundamental skills to develop their scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding, as well as giving the children a sense of compassion for animals and the current climate.
The aim of teaching Science at our school is:
Implementation
At St Clement’s & St John’s Infant School, the Early Years Framework and the National Curriculum is the core of our Science curriculum.
Our curriculum is designed upon a base of skills and knowledge that we want the children to learn and is taught in a progressive manner throughout the whole school.
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning, teachers plan lessons from this progression document and deliver them through topics, which we select to excite and motivate our children.
Impact
We aim for all children to achieve age related expectations in Science at the end of KS1, which we assess against the Teacher Assessment Framework for Science.
The outcomes of the teaching of Science across the school can be seen through collections of learning in EYFS and within KS1 Science books.
We assess Science throughout the year, during different topics. Teachers regularly assess through marking and pupil discussions. This is recorded on a data document, which provides the teacher with information about how to plan future lessons, activities and how to appropriately differentiate. This document follows the children through KS1.
From September 2023:
At St Clement's and St John's Infant School pupils are inspired to be curious about science by asking scientific questions, and through scientific enquiry, having the opportunity to find answers to their questions. Children will demonstrate their knowledge, have an understanding of why things happen and how things work.
The Science 'Big Ideas'
The knowledge and skills children learn must be co-ordinated and coherent. In order to achieve this in our curriculum, we have identified the key concepts or overarching ideas within each subject. To enable the children to access them, we call these the ‘Big Ideas’.
In science these are: