Science
Science
Academic Year 2024-2025
Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are currently covering Cycle B
Developing and increasing pupils’ understanding and enjoyment of science is core to our curriculum at Malpas Alport. Science stimulates and excites pupils’ curiosity about the natural world and wider events within society. A scientist observes, questions, investigates, records and analyses data. All children can be scientists by following their own natural curiosity, and at Malpas Alport, we help to build and reinforce these skills so that children are able to thrive and achieve.
Intent
We strive to maintain a high profile for the subject within our school through providing a science curriculum which enables all to explore, discover and engage with the world around them. This aims to provide confidence and a deeper understanding of the world in which we live.
We achieve this through exciting, practical experiences that encourage curiosity through a hands-on inquiry-based approach whilst making cross curricular connections and links to ongoing societal and environmental issues. This not only provides a foundation for progression in the science learning for our children but also helps to shape their understanding of the world both now and for the future.
We endeavour to provide our pupils with a coherently planned and sequenced science curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all learners, no matter their abilities, the knowledge and skills that will help them as they progress in science from Early Years onwards. In a world that is changing rapidly, an effective science curriculum will provide our pupils with the skills and knowledge they will need in the future.
Through our science curriculum we aim to:
- Develop a positive attitude towards science and ensure that children can see the relevance in everyday life.
- Ensure children have the opportunity to investigate and work collaboratively.
- Give children the confidence and ability to use scientific knowledge and skills.
- Develop mathematical skills and enable children to see links to other areas of the curriculum.
- Allow children to communicate their findings in a variety of ways.
- Encourage children to work both independently and cooperatively with others.
Implementation
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in science, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Science is taught weekly using both a combination of discrete lessons and through cross-curricular topics when appropriate. The science curriculum at Malpas Alport Endowed Primary School is based upon the 2014 Primary National Curriculum in England, which provides a broad framework and outlines the knowledge and skills taught in each Key Stage.
At Malpas we ensure that we provide:
- Well planned science teaching embedded with meaningful, memorable,
practical learning experiences. - Opportunities for pupils to develop and build on their
scientific knowledge while increasing their working scientifically
skills. - Make links between prior learning and new learning
- Extra curricular events such as science fairs, science competitions and themed science days.
- Science visitors and trips.
- Differentiated lessons and recording strategies to ensure all pupil
needs are met and that writing is not a barrier to science learning.
Impact
In measuring the impact of this we will be looking for evidence that:
- Children enjoy, are enthusiastic and motivated about science at Malpas Alport.
- Children can talk about science confidently and using the correct and accurate vocabulary both verbally and in their written work.
- There is clear progression demonstrated in children’s work from foundation stage to Year 6.
- Lessons are sequenced and there is full coverage of the curriculum.
- Children become increasingly independent in science, selecting their own tools and materials, completing pupil-led investigations and choosing their own strategies for recording when appropriate.
- Children can make links with how science is used in the real world and develop a sense of how this can apply to them in their own lives.
Our Science curriulum covers five strands:
- Biology – living things and how they interact.
- Chemistry – the study of matter.
- Physics – the interaction of matter and energy.
- Earth and Space – planet Earth, the wider Solar System and beyond.
- Thinking and Working Scientifically – develops understanding and skills of scientific models and representations, scientific enquiry and practical work.
Enquiry strategies
As part of working scientifically which is embedded throughout all units, pupils will also learn to use a variety of enquiry strategies to answer scientific questions. Different questions lead to different types of enquiry and are not limited to fair testing. By the end of primary school, children will be able to use these enquiry strategies confidently and know that different strategies may be needed at different times.
- Observing over time: (observing or measuring how one variable changes over time)
- Identifying and classifying: (identifying and naming materials/living things and making observations or carrying out tests to organise them into groups.)
- Looking for patterns: (making observations or carrying out surveys of variables that cannot be easily controlled and looking for relationships between two sets of data)
- Comparative and fair testing: (observing or measuring the effect of changing one variable when controlling others)
- Answering questions using secondary sources of evidence: (answering questions using data or information that they have not collected firsthand)
Links to Support Your Child's Learning
How You Can Support Your Child's Learning in Science - Places to Visit and Explore
Techniquest Catalyst Foresty England Chester Zoo
Spaceport Liverpool Museums Local Wildlife Trust Events Manchester Museums