Subject Leader - Mrs Bridges

Link Governor - 

Science Curriculum Documents

Science Policy

Curriculum Overview

Intent

At The Priory Primary School, we are dedicated to cultivating a Science curriculum that nurtures curiosity, imagination, and scientific creativity, aligning with the objectives outlined in the UK National Curriculum for Science education. Our primary focus is to instill in our students a deep sense of enjoyment, fulfillment, and purpose in their scientific learning journey.

Within our Science curriculum, students will explore the world around them by conducting scientific investigations using real-world contexts and evaluating their scientific skills. They will learn to select appropriate methodologies, materials, and techniques to investigate and understand natural phenomena. Furthermore, our curriculum encourages students to reflect on their attitudes toward the natural world and how it influences our daily lives and work.

Our Science curriculum empowers students to unravel the mechanisms governing the functioning of the universe and equips them with various means to communicate their scientific ideas effectively. Through our teaching methods, children will acquire skills to plan and critically evaluate their scientific inquiries and the work of their peers, thereby enhancing their scientific vocabulary.

Science education at our school prepares students to engage with the ever-evolving innovations and advancements in our world. It fosters their ability to become creative problem-solvers, both individually and as collaborative team members, enabling them to integrate practical scientific skills with a systematic problem-solving approach that addresses real and pertinent challenges.

Curriculum Drivers 

Cultural Heritage: 

• Our Science curriculum aims to inspire our children to be curious about their surroundings, by encouraging them to question, investigate, and explore how the world around them works. 
• Through structured lessons and a broad curriculum, we aim to give our children the opportunity to partake in activities that will enrich their experiences and develop their problem-solving abilities, such as investigating natural phenomena. 
• Ultimately, we recognise that our Science curriculum should provide pupils with the chance to acquire the skills they will need in order to adapt to a rapidly changing world. 
• Where possible, we use school trips and internal visitors to enrich children’s understanding of how and why Science features within the wider world. 

Aspirations: 

• Our Science curriculum is planned around the ideology that all of our pupils will be able to engage with Science, and therefore conversations around scientific discovery, throughout their lives.  
• We enrich all curriculum areas, including Science, by introducing our children to different career options linked to subjects, such as chemists, construction workers, and marine biologists. We do this through lessons, assemblies, and by inviting people within these careers to come and talk to our children. 
• We aim to inspire our children to leave primary school with a love of Science and a desire to want to study it at secondary school and at University. 

Awe and Wonder: 

• Pupils should enjoy what they are learning and topics should foster curiosity, giving the opportunity for children to ask meaningful questions. 
• High-quality resources are created and used within each topic area to inspire children within Science.
• Where possible, we form partnerships with external organisations and projects to give our children opportunities to learn outside of the curriculum and learn from specialists. 

Experiential learning: 

• We firmly believe in the power that meaningful ‘real life experiences’ can have upon children’s retention and enjoyment. 
• Within every topic, we focus on the design brief, embedding this within ‘real-life’ scenarios to engage children in the topic. 
• Our specialist Science resources are integrated and utilised during lessons, ensuring that children have access to high-quality resources and provisions.  
• Topic planning within Science includes extensive lists of resources that are shared with teachers in advance of lessons being taught. This ensures that each lesson is sufficiently equipped to give children as many experiences and opportunities to practice their investigation and problem-solving skills.
• We believe in giving pupils the freedom to make their own choices about the equipment, materials, and method of investigation they use for their products, encouraging them to learn from experience by constantly reflecting and evaluating their work. 

Language and oracy: 

• Vocabulary is an integral part of our Science curriculum based on the needs of our pupils. Throughout all Key Stages and topics, key vocabulary is chosen and built upon. This forms a key part of the Science progression maps. 
• To support our children with engaging in conversations around Science, each exercise book has a ‘talk like a scientist’ sheet at the front of the book, which gives sentence stems and key vocabulary. 
• To further encourage the use of higher-order vocabulary, our curriculum provides an opportunity for rich dialogue through Philosophy for Children (P4C), helping children to articulate their own choices and understanding. 
• Visual resources such as videos, pictures, or information cards are used to introduce new themes and ideas to help our children retain information and be excited about Science. Book lists are shared with parents to encourage wider reading at home.