Science

In science we intend to offer children the opportunity to discover science in a variety of different ways. Children will learn knowledge across biology, chemistry and physics whilst also working scientifically. The children will learn science in a cyclical fashion, continually returning to previous knowledge as a way of anchoring new knowledge to existing concepts.

We encourage pupils at Linthwaite Clough to be inquisitive in their science lessons, promoting discovery through scientific enquiries whilst at the same time, ensuring the children know and remember the key knowledge over each unit. We intend for all children to express the desire to know about the world around them.

We intend to offer a science curriculum that caters to the individual needs of each pupil and have high expectations for every child. We intend for the science curriculum to be memorable both in experience and in knowledge.

We use the Early Years Statutory Framework and the National Curriculum as a basis for our science curriculum. Between the ages of three and five years, children show marked development in their understanding of scientific concepts and their ability to test them. This is recognised in the Early Years Foundation Stage, where ‘Understanding the world’ is specified as a learning goal within the Early Years Framework. We then follow the National Curriculum on a two-year rolling cycle.

To ensure we are meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum, we use the Collins ‘Snap Science’ scheme. This has been designed by primary science experts: ‘they know how important it is for primary children to develop secure knowledge of the big ideas in science, to learn how scientists work to build that knowledge and how that knowledge can be used to meet the global changes we face. They know how exciting it is to be in a primary classroom when science is being well taught: where children are connecting their learning, finding things out through practical experimentation, using scientific vocabulary to explain what they know and seeing the relevance of their learning to their lives.’

From Years 1-6, the curriculum is delivered over a two-year cycle, with the subjects deliberately chosen to ensure the progression is seen at the end of each phase (KS1, LKS2 and UKS2). The children in the Year 2/3 class are split for science to ensure they have the relevant science progression. Lessons are delivered weekly across every half term. Despite the National Curriculum having 4-5 topics per year group, Linthwaite Clough, employing the Collins scheme, has ensured that topics are split to ensure there are 6 units per year.

In science, we use a range of scientific instruments to help answer enquiry questions. For example, in Y5/6, we use Newton metres to measure the strength of a force. The lessons begin with an enquiry question for the children to consider and the journey of the lesson guides them to the answer to this question.

At Linthwaite Clough, we are acutely aware of the important links that science has to many other subjects including mathematics, geography and DT and we use the opportunity to frequently makes links that are meaningful and relevant to the children’s development age.

At the start of most lessons, we use low-stakes quizzing to help children retrieve previous knowledge, allowing them to build on this in subsequent lessons. Children are assessed in science through a pre and post-assessment requiring them to answer key questions from that unit of work. During lessons, teacher questioning, whiteboard work and peer/self-assessment is used to help assess the children’s level of understanding. Teachers are also provided with key misconceptions that children may already have before a unit starts. In each classroom, there is a science working wall where the enquiry questions for the units are on display, along with records of the children’s work. This wall is then used as a tool to refer to previous learning.

We also ensure that we look for opportunities to learn outside the classroom through work on the school site and, where appropriate, school trips can have links to the science curriculum.

As a result of learning science at Linthwaite Clough, the children are naturally curious; they look at the world around them and question how things work. They can confidently talk about scientific knowledge they’ve acquired and recount investigations they have completed in lessons. Children at Linthwaite Clough are continually encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things behave and analyse causes. Monitoring takes place periodically through the year by both the science subject leader and SLT to ensure children are receiving this.