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Science

Our science curriculum is aspirational, enabling and inclusive. It is knowledge-rich and inspires pupils to develop a fascination for, and a deep understanding of, the world around them.
It is our intention that through our science curriculum children will:

  • Learn how science affects their everyday lives and develop a sense of responsibility for the world.
  • Learn a wide body of scientific knowledge which fosters curiosity and is developed and consolidated through practical scientific enquiry and enrichment opportunities.
  • Make confident, meaningful links between their learning, the wider curriculum and the real world.
  • See themselves as scientists and understand the role of a scientist in our society.
  • Understand what it means study science in its broadest terms and how science can influence our thoughts and actions, now and in the future
  •  Use the scientific knowledge that they acquire (both substantive and disciplinary) during their primary phase to influence and guide their choices in the future.
  • Have the necessary knowledge and skill-set to be secondary ready.

Implementation
At Northchapel Primary School, we teach an ambitious, high-quality science curriculum which is carefully constructed to ensure children develop a solid understanding of scientific concepts and knowledge. It has been planned using units from Plan Bee Scheme.
Science is taught through six high-dividend concepts:
1. Working scientifically
2. Questioning and enquiring planning
3. Observing and measuring pattern seeking
4. Investigating
5. Recording and reporting findings
6. Identifying, grouping and classifying 

7. Research Conclusions

All of which are woven throughout the curriculum and form the ‘Big ideas’ through which all science is taught.
Knowledge is given a high status and ensures pupils carefully build their understanding of the subject; content is specified in detail and is sequenced in such a way that it is taught to be remembered and not just encountered.

Where appropriate, our science curriculum is taught outside the classroom providing first-hand experiences of the local environment and allowing children to observe science in the real-world and embed their learning of science into meaningful contexts. Additionally, enrichment opportunities further enhance our science curriculum by providing pupils with the opportunity to focus and deepen their scientific learning and extend their educational experiences.
Our curriculum ensures progression of substantive and disciplinary knowledge, building sequentially on prior knowledge in small steps, and incorporates explicit horizontal links across a year group, vertical links where knowledge and understanding are built upon from previous units and diagonal links across the wider curriculum.
Pupils obtain a solid understanding of key scientific concepts and knowledge which enables them to develop and enhance their mental models and use this rich breadth of knowledge to make meaningful links between scientific concepts, the wider curriculum and the real world. Specific science vocabulary is explicitly taught throughout our curriculum and is sequenced to ensure their understanding of scientific vocabulary builds and develops over time.

Our progression of knowledge and skills sets this out below.