St Stephen's Catholic Primary School and Nursery

It is our intention here at St. Stephen's that the Science we deliver develops all young people to have a lifelong curiosity and interest in the sciences. When planning for the science curriculum, we intend for children to have the opportunity, wherever possible, to learn through varied systematic investigations, leading to them being equipped for life to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them.

As children progress through school, they build on their skills in working scientifically, as well as on their scientific knowledge, as they develop greater independence in planning and carrying out fair and comparative tests to answer a range of scientific questions. Each unit has an accompanying knowledge organiser which is used to help reinforce the key knowledge for each unit as set out in the Science National Curriculum. The knowledge organisers help our children to consolidate and retain the Science knowledge they have learnt and also reinforce key scientific vocabulary from each unit.

Our Science scheme of work, using White Rose Education as its base,  ensures that children have a varied, progressive and well-mapped-out science curriculum that provides the opportunity for progression across the full breadth of the Science National Curriculum for KS1 and KS2.

Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following: 

• Science will be taught weekly fora minimum of 1 hour. 
• Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often involving high-quality resources to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. We ensure that we follow the National Curriculum statutory requirements. 
• Teachers aim to nurture a love for the natural world, excitement for future possibilities in science and provide opportunities for creative investigations and problem solving. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. They develop children’s curiosity and inspire them to pursue scientific enquiry.
• Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills and assess children regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all children keep up. 
• Children’s will carry out pre and post task assessments to demonstrate knowledge they have learnt and implement additional support where needed. 
• We build upon the learning and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, and they become more proficient in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence. 
• Working Scientifically skills are embedded into each lesson to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. 
• Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills, in order to embed scientific understanding. 
• Teachers provide challenge for pupils through deeper learning/consolidation stickers each session  Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning and workshops with experts. Children are offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities, visits, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum. These are purposeful and link with the knowledge being taught in class. 
• Regular events, such as Science Week or theme days, such as ‘Healthy Week’, allow all pupils to come off-timetable, to provide broader provision and the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills. These events often involve families and the wider community.

Our intent in science is to encourage and ignite curiosity in children so that they confidently ask questions that fuel explorations and investigations about the world that we live in. At St. Stephen's we aim to inspire and excite our children through our practical and exciting curriculum.

At St. Stephen's we: 

• ensure that all children develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding. 
• ensure that all children are equipped with the working scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science. 
• provide a high-quality science education which provides the foundations for understanding the world. 
• to use and apply a growing bank of scientific vocabulary and to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. 
• develop children's natural curiosity and encourage their inquisitive nature through our science lessons. 
• ensure that all children are exposed to high quality teaching and learning experiences, which allow children to explore their outdoor environment and locality, thus developing their scientific enquiry and investigative skills. 
• encourage children to focus on the work of great scientists. 
• ensure that all children develop an understanding of how their body works and how to stay healthy.