Intent
At Bathford Church School our vision of ‘Grow, Care, Serve, Share’ is an integral part of our science teaching and learning. We encourage children to be inquisitive and resilient learners throughout their time at the school and beyond, growing in confidence, knowledge and understanding of our world and acquiring tools to develop their own ideas. The science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in the children about our world and promotes respect for living and non-living things, ensuring they care and serve for all. At Bathford, we encourage the children to be aware of their surroundings and their place in it, giving them an understanding of their role in our world and the importance of their generation to share their knowledge in a responsible and thoughtful way to protect and nurture their own environment for them and future generations. Through the curriculum, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills. We ensure that the Working Scientifically skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at school so that they can apply their knowledge of science when developing hypotheses, using equipment, conducting experiments, building arguments, and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and develop an evidence-based approach to problem solving and learning.
The national curriculum for science aim to ensure that all children grow:
- to develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
- to 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
- to be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
Implementation
In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in science, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.
Planning for science is a process in which all teachers are involved to ensure that the school gives full coverage of, ‘The National Curriculum programmes of study for Science 2014’ and, ‘Understanding of the World’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Science teaching at Bathford Church School involves adapting and extending the curriculum to match all pupils’ needs. Science is linked to class topics, where possible, although it is also taught as discrete units and lessons, where needed, to ensure coverage.
Science units are taught on a year rolling programme. This ensures progression between year groups and guarantees topics are covered. Teachers plan to suit their children’s interests, current events, their own teaching style, the use of any support staff and resources available.
We ensure that all children are provided with rich learning experiences that aim to:
- Prepare them for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world today and in the future.
- Help them acquire a growing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of scientific ideas and how these are and can be used to serve the greater good.
- Develop and extend scientific concepts of their world.
- Build on natural curiosity and developing a scientific approach to problems.
- Encourage open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and developing the skills of investigation: observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating.
- Develop the use of scientific language, recording and techniques.
- Encourage collaborative group work and sharing of ideas.
- Develop the use of computing in investigating and recording.
- Make links between science and other subjects.
Science is taught consistently, once a week for up to two hours, but may be discretely taught in different contexts throughout all areas of the curriculum, such as investigating how yeast grows as part of a Design & Technology project on bread making.
Impact
All children will have a wider range of skills linked to scientific knowledge and understanding and scientific enquiry/investigative skills. They will have an understanding of how ideas and developments in science impact our everyday lives and they will have developed a richer vocabulary which will enable them to articulate and their understanding of scientific concepts.
We believe that these opportunities will ensure that our children are confident, life-long learners who will explore and care passionately about the world around them.