Science at Springfield CPS

Vision

At Springfield Community Primary School, we believe that a high-quality science curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the world. Science has changed our lives monumentally and is vital to the world’s future health, wealth, and prosperity. We believe that Science opens a wealth of opportunities for children, both professionally and personally. It can be a pathway to a career in medicine, engineering, or research.

Intent

We recognise how science impacts every aspect of daily life; without science, humankind would not have made progress throughout history. As one of the core subjects taught at primary level, we give the teaching and learning of science the prominence it deserves. Learning science is concerned with increasing pupils’ knowledge of our world and developing skills associated with science as a process of enquiry.

Our science curriculum nurtures the natural curiosity of each child, encourages them to respect living organisms, and instils in pupils the importance of caring for the natural environment. We endeavour to ensure that the science curriculum we provide gives children the confidence and motivation to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences.

At Springfield, pupils will be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes, and applications of science so that they can think and work like professionals in the field. Our science curriculum will develop in pupils a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Additionally, it will empower pupils to understand how science can be used to explain occurrences, predict behaviours, and analyse the causes of both natural and man-made phenomena.

Implementation

Our science curriculum follows the Pzazz scheme and is supplemented by resources from the Primary Science Teaching Trust. This scheme incorporates findings published in the report Intention and Substance: Further Findings on Primary School Science from Phase 3 of Ofsted’s Curriculum Research (2019).

Children have two weekly science lessons throughout the school year, using a variety of study programmes and resources.

In the Early Years, science is taught through children’s play. The Early Years focus on exploring and investigating the world through play while having fun. Science combines these two key elements, which are crucial for establishing a lifelong love of learning. Our Early Years programme provides a strong foundation in what is learned and how it is learned. By encouraging and directing their natural curiosity and familiarising children with basic scientific vocabulary, our children begin to gain an understanding of the world in which they live.

Science Lessons in Years 1-6

Using the requirements of the Science National Curriculum as our guide, our science lessons offer opportunities for children to:

  • Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of the disciplines of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.
  • Formulate their own questions about the natural world.
  • Foster the confidence to ‘be wrong’ when making predictions and formulating their own theories.
  • Promote an awareness of the importance of teamwork in scientific experimentation.
  • Work scientifically and practically investigate their questions using various methods of enquiry.
  • Gain competence in scientific skills linked to planning, doing, recording, and reviewing.
  • Use a range of methods to gather data from investigations and secondary sources, including ICT, drawings, diagrams, videos, and photographs.
  • Present data in various forms, including tables, bar charts, line graphs, pictograms, and pie charts.
  • Develop awareness of safety in lessons by understanding the hazards of materials and equipment they handle, as well as mitigating these hazards.
  • Cultivate enthusiasm and enjoyment for scientific learning and discovery.

Teachers create a positive attitude towards science learning within their classrooms and reinforce the expectation that all children can achieve high standards in science.

Teaching is organised as follows:

  • Science will be taught according to the year group requirements of the National Curriculum, enabling the accumulation of knowledge and allowing progress through repeated topics across the years.
  • We build on the learning and skill development from previous years by activating prior knowledge, which teachers access through the knowledge and skills maps and by conducting baseline assessments.
  • Pupils will concentrate on developing one scientific skill at any time.
  • At the start of each lesson, the children will engage in a starter activity from one of the following: odd one out, PMI, big question, or concept cartoon. This is designed to stimulate their scientific thinking.
  • Our planning includes problem-solving opportunities, allowing children to discover for themselves how to answer questions through practical means. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and are provided with appropriate equipment to apply their scientific skills to find the answers.
  • Engaging lessons incorporate practical activities and opportunities to acquire and apply substantive and disciplinary knowledge.
  • Teachers will use precise questioning in class to assess conceptual knowledge and skills, and formative assessment is utilised regularly to identify any gaps in learning.
  • As children’s knowledge and understanding increase, they become more proficient in selecting and using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, and drawing conclusions based on real evidence.
  • “Working Scientifically” skills are explicitly taught in lessons to ensure they are developed throughout the children’s school career; new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching, in keeping with the lesson’s theme.
  • Teachers demonstrate the use of scientific equipment and various “Working Scientifically” skills to embed scientific understanding. They also seek opportunities to enhance children’s understanding of their surroundings through outdoor learning and workshops with experts.
  • As part of each unit, children will be exposed to the work of a scientist. By sharing pictures and stories of a diverse range of scientists, we hope the children will be inspired and see that there is a place for everyone in the world of science and that they could be ‘a scientist just like them’.

Impact

We aim to ensure that children have a secure cross-section of biology, chemistry, and physics understanding that builds throughout the years. The curriculum delivers ‘big ideas’ that extend children’s understanding of key concepts. This is then secured with working scientific knowledge. As the children progress through the years, they develop their experimental skills from basic to more complex, ready to take these skills into secondary school to be built upon further.

Formative assessment forms the foundation of assessment in science. Teachers gauge children’s understanding during lessons through questioning and examining their books or watching back video evidence on Seesaw.

At the start of a unit, children complete a pre-assessment, which is then repeated at the end of the unit. For children in KS1, this is done verbally and recorded both times. For children in Years 3-6, they list what they already know using bullet points and then add to this in a different colour at the end of the unit.

At the end of the unit, children will complete a TAPS assessment as a means of assessing their “Working Scientifically” skills.

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Feb
11
Tue
all-day Spring Term Swimming
Spring Term Swimming
Feb 11 all-day
Spring Term Swimming
Year 4 will be swimming this term starting on Tuesday 07 January and every Tuesday thereafter until Tuesday 01 April
Feb
12
Wed
3:15 pm Y5 & Y6 Athletics Club
Y5 & Y6 Athletics Club
Feb 12 @ 3:15 pm – 4:00 pm
Y5 & Y6 Athletics Club
from Wednesday 08 January and then every week until Wednesday 12 February
Feb
13
Thu
3:15 pm Y4 Y5 & Y6 Drama Club
Y4 Y5 & Y6 Drama Club
Feb 13 @ 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
Y4 Y5 & Y6 Drama Club
from Thursday 09 January and then every week until Thursday 13 February
Feb
14
Fri
3:15 pm February Half-Term Holiday
February Half-Term Holiday
Feb 14 @ 3:15 pm
February Half-Term Holiday
School closes Friday 14 February at 3.15pm for the half-term
Feb
24
Mon
8:45 am Back to School
Back to School
Feb 24 @ 8:45 am
Back to School
School opens on Monday 24 February at 8.45am and breakfast club for those who have a place will be open from 8.00am
3:15 pm Choir Rehearsal
Choir Rehearsal
Feb 24 @ 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm
Choir Rehearsal
from Monday 09 September and then every week to the end of the academic year [excluding holidays]

Contact

Oxford Road, Burnley BB11 3HP

Tel: 01282 437277

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