Science
Our school teaches National Curriculum Science through the Snap Science Curriculum topics and focused Science weeks.
‘Wisdom begins in wonder.’ - Socrates
At Our Lady’s we aim to provide a Science Curriculum that will excite and engage the children’s interests as well as enhancing their life experiences. We strive to make the learning process enjoyable through practical and hands-on activities that the children will remember and build on throughout school and beyond. We want to stimulate children’s curiosity while encouraging them to work scientifically through an enquiry based approach. This enables children to understand how Science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave and analyse causes. At Our Lady’s we want our children to become confident in applying their knowledge and skills both inside and outside of the classroom to equip them for Science in the wider world.
Intent
In school our wider intent is to make learning meaningful and memorable. At Our Lady’s of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School our Science curriculum is based on the spirit of enquiry. The children at Our Lady’s have said that they enjoy Science because it is a hands on subject, and our teachers try to use real life and practical activities as often as possible. Our aim is to nurture the children’s inquisitive nature, and to allow them to ask and answer questions better by teaching them how to think scientifically. We believe that by doing this, the children will have a better appreciation of the role of Science in society, and the importance of thinking critically.
Implementation
At Our Lady’s of Good Counsel Catholic Primary, our Science curriculum follows the National Curriculum and provides children with an array of enriching opportunities, with a strong focus on practical learning. We use the White Rose Science programme as a basis for teaching. Our children carry out a range of experiments and investigations, beginning in EYFS all the way through to the end of KS2. The lessons that the children are taught in school have a focus on the 5 different lines of enquiry:
| Observing over time | Identifying, classifying & grouping | Pattern seeking | Using secondary sources | Comparative & fair testing |
At the beginning of each lesson the subject of science is presented along with the lessons purpose and how it fits in to the bigger picture of a sequence of lessons. The use of our school’s corporate slides enables the children to understand the lessons focus. The day-to-day teaching uses contexts that allow children to appreciate the relevance of science to their everyday lives.
Impact
We use a range of strategies to assess what skills and knowledge the children have attained each term including the following:
Book and floor book looks
Pupil Voice
Regular feedback each lesson
A well-maintained display and folder of work
Science Day - November 2023
This term we have enjoyed a fun and memorable Science Day.
The children dressed up as an inspirational scientist and shared information about their scientist to their class.
Each class researched information about a famous scientist and created fact files about them.