Gwyn Jones Primary School

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all children should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, children should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. 

Intent 

Here at Gwyn Jones Primary School, our children are SCIENTISTS. Children are encouraged to be inquisitive, observe the world around them and form links between Science and other subjects. We want our children to love science. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be astronauts, forensic scientists, toxicologists or microbiologists. We want our children to remember their science lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the scientific opportunities they are presented with. To achieve this, it involves exciting, practical hands on experiences that encourage curiosity and questioning. Our aim is that these stimulating and challenging experiences help every child secure and extend their scientific knowledge and vocabulary, as well as promoting a love and thirst for learning. At GJPS, we want to equip our children with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the science National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. 

Implementation

We provide a stimulating EYFS curriculum that nurtures children’s natural curiosity and their on-going knowledge and understanding of the world around them through the planning and teaching of ‘Understanding the World’. Through hands-on, enquiry-based activities, children find out about objects, materials and living things using all of their senses looking at similarities, differences, patterns and change. Both the environment and skilled practitioners foster curiosity and encourage explorative play, children are motivated to ask questions about why things happen and how things work. Our children are encouraged to use their natural environment around them to explore. Children enjoy spending time outdoors exploring mini-beasts and their habitats, observing the changing seasons, plants and animals. Children regularly participate in cookery and baking sessions, which allows them to experience changes in state as ingredients are mixed, heated and cooled. By providing our children with these holistic learning experiences and incorporating elements of science in their everyday activities we guide and support them in their journey to becoming independent learners. 

Science topics are taught within each year group in accordance with the National Curriculum science programmes of study for KS1 and KS2, our school aims to ensure that all children: 

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics 

• 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 

• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future 

Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills. In order to support children in their ability to ‘know more and remember more’ there are regular opportunities to review the learning taken place in previous lessons. At the start of each topic children will also review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know about their current topic. Teaching staff promote enjoyment and foster interest of the scientific disciplines; Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Children explore, question, predict, plan, carry out investigations and observations as well as conclude their findings. Children present their findings and learning using science specific language, observations and diagrams. Effective use of education visits and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the Science curriculum. To support teaching, teachers access a range of resources and planning form Rising Stars Science. Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intention, with misconceptions addressed within it. Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as Maths, English and Computing. Our use of Rising Stars Science assessments to assess science allows us to use data to inform future practice.

 Impact 

The impact of implementing our science curriculum this way ensures that every  child secures and extends their scientific knowledge, vocabulary and understanding, making good progress as a result. Through high quality teaching as well as various workshops, trips and interactions with experts in our Science curriculum, our children will be enthusiastic Science learners and understand that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We want to empower our children so they understand they have the capability to change the world. This is evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their work and their overwhelming enjoyment for science. By providing a broad and balanced curriculum through high quality teaching, we encourage our children to be curious, motivated life-long learners who will confidently ask questions and explore the world around them, way beyond their time at Gwyn Jones primary school.