Broughton Primary School: Science Intent

Vision

Our curriculum at Broughton Primary School encompasses the following aims to meet the needs of our children and the Science curriculum is vehicle to bring these aims to life:

Aims of our curriculum

• ENGAGE- Pro-actively engage children in their education and help them to be responsible for their successes and achievements both academically and socially

At the start of each Science topic, we use a ‘Discovery Task’, which not only operates as an exciting hook but also allows them to use their prior knowledge and question concepts. We pride our children on being curious learners and encourage them to engage in Science lessons by asking questions to help develop their understanding and challenge their thinking.

• EVALUATE- They will have the ability to evaluate the choices they can make and make conscious decisions based on these evaluations

An integral part of Science is allowing children the chance to develop their understanding of working scientifically. At Broughton Primary School, children are given numerous opportunities to put their knowledge of key concepts to the test through the use of investigations.  These investigations are often developed by the children themselves and we actively encourage children to evaluate the effectiveness of their investigations and how to make these ‘fair’ in order to collect valid and accurate results.

• EMPOWER- The children will feel empowered and unafraid of challenge or initial failure

At Broughton Primary School, we want to foster curiosity and have children ask questions about how the world works. Therefore, we encourage children to test out their ideas through investigating and allow children to take ownership of these investigations by making choices about how best to conduct these. As children progress through the school, they begin to use their understanding of a concept to predict what they think may happen and explore different ways to record their findings.  

• REPONSIBLE- The children will have a developed sense of shared responsibility for things outside their immediate person.

Where appropriate, we will try to incorporate the skills and knowledge learnt in Science into our curriculum drivers, especially Outdoor Learning and Real Life learner. We will use these drivers to put our learning into context and make children think about Science in the wider world. Examples of these include looking at destruction of habitats and how this affects ecosystems, the impact of space travel on the environment and how we can lower our usage of electrical items to combat climate change.

• ENJOYMENT-The children will love/ look forward to coming to school (the majority of the time!)

We believe that Science is an interesting and fun subject. Children are given multiple opportunities to learn and understand key scientific concepts through play from Early Years to Year 6. Teachers are encouraged to allow children time to safely ‘play’ with scientific equipment such as magnets, circuits, and different materials as a way to foster curiosity and help embed understanding. We hope children are enthusiastic about Science and to harbour this enthusiasm through the our external Science clubs hosted by Mad Science Wessex.

Implementation                                               

We structure our Science curriculum using the Hampshire learning journeys to help ensure coverage of the National Curriculum and key knowledge, which is built upon in logical and progressive steps. In Key Stage 1, Science learning journeys are planned in alignment with the Geography/ History being taught to engage children fully with the learning and make links between subjects. In Key Stage 2, the Science learning journeys are taught more discretely so children have a clear understanding of what Science is and key skills needed to develop themselves as Scientists.

To help assess prior learning and identify misconceptions, teachers use a ‘Discovery Task’ at the start of each learning journey. This is usually in the form of a question, alongside a visual stimuli, which children answer independently to begin with before collaborating with peers to try and arise at a suitable answer. This allows teachers to see what key knowledge and vocabulary children already know as well as identify misconceptions which children may have around a particular topic and allows for a learning journey planned for a particular cohorts prior knowledge.

Through carefully planned lessons, children will continue to develop their understanding of key scientific concepts through a range of different activities and tasks. Learning journeys have problem solving investigations embedded throughout to allow children to question and test key concepts, whilst developing their scientific thinking. Children are encouraged to work collaboratively during these investigations to predict, plan and draw conclusions, all whilst sharing their own ideas and opinions.

Throughout all learning journeys within the year, Working Scientifically skills are embedded to ensure these skills are continually being developed throughout their time at Broughton Primary School. These skills are continually revisited throughout the year and built upon as children progress through the school. By the end of Year 6, children have a sound understanding of how to conduct a accurate, valid investigation to prove a scientific concept.

We continue to enrich children’s curiosity and love for Science through partnership with external companies and through ensuring Science based activities occur in our termly Outdoor Classroom days. We also have ambitions to continue to promoting Science by participating in British Science Week and continue to promote STEM based careers to all learners through our bi-annual careers fair.

Impact

Through our carefully devised Science curriculum, children will leave Broughton Primary School with a natural inquisitiveness and interest of how the world around them works. They will be able to link the knowledge that has been built upon since their Early Years learning to key scientific concepts, which they experience every day and begin to use this information to seek further answers. Our aim for Science is to increase the skills needed to navigate an ever-changing world of science and technology by immersing our students with scientific enquiry skills, key scientific knowledge and investigative skills.