Science

Science at Loscoe

Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated

Rosalind Franklin

At Loscoe, our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for Science; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum that ensures progressive development and an understanding of scientific concepts through engaging, memorable, quality experiments, investigations and real life exploration.

Intent

At Loscoe C of E Primary School, our children are SCIENTISTS!

Our intent is to give every child a broad and balanced Science curriculum which enables them to confidently explore and discover what is around them, so that they develop a deeper understanding of the world in which we live in. We want our children to engage completely and love their Science lessons. We want them to be ambitious and grow up wanting to be astronauts, forensic scientists, chemists and biologists. 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 Loscoe, we have a curriculum which has been carefully designed and developed with the need of every child at the centre of what we do. 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

At Loscoe, Science topics are taught within each year group in accordance with the National Curriculum.

Topics are blocked to allow children to focus on developing their knowledge and skills, studying each topic in depth.
Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills.
Teachers 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.
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 topics as well as previous lessons.
At the start of each topic children will review previous learning and will have the opportunity to share what they already know about a current topic.
Children are given a knowledge organiser at the start of each topic which details some key Science Curriculum Statement information and vocabulary. This is not used as part of an assessment, but to support children with their acquisition of knowledge and is to be used as a reference document.
Effective CPD opportunities are available to staff to ensure high levels of confidence and knowledge are maintained.
To support teaching, teachers access a range of resources and planning from Cornerstones.
Effective use of education visits and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the Science curriculum.
Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intention, with misconceptions addressed within it.
Through using a range of assessment tools, differentiation is facilitated by teachers, to ensure that each pupil can access the Science curriculum.
Children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve the learning intention with differing elements of independence.
Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for self or peer assessment, which will then be used to inform planning, preparation, differentiation and address misconceptions within that lesson, or for the next lesson.
Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as Maths, English and Computing.

Impact

The successful approach to the teaching of Science at Loscoe results in a fun, engaging, high quality science education that provides children with the foundations for understanding the world that they can take with them once they complete their primary education. So much of science lends itself to outdoor learning, and so we provide children with opportunities to experience this. Pupil voice is used to further develop the Science curriculum, through questioning of pupils’ views and attitudes towards Science, to assess the children’s enjoyment of science, and to motivate our learners.

Scientists at loscoe will:

demonstrate a love of science work and an interest in further study and work in this field
retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science, with a real life context.
be able to question ideas and reflect on knowledge.
be able to articulate their understanding of scientific concepts and be able to reason scientifically using rich language linked to science.
demonstrate a high love of mathematical skills through their work, organising, recording and interpreting results.
work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment.
achieve age related expectations in Science at the end of their cohort year.

Wider Curriculum

In Science, we will teach and support our pupils to build a deep web of knowledge that they can recall and draw on to make connections as they progress through each Key Stage. At Loscoe, we pledge that every child will have countless opportunities to enquire, investigate and analyse their findings during their time with us. We promise to make Science real and relevant, memorable and exciting.

As part of our Loscoe Promise, we also pledge that our children will learn about basic First Aid and will grow and cook their own food.

Educational visits and workshops are an integral part of our curriculum offer. This is either a visit or trip linked to the topic or a visitor or workshop delivered in school. These activities allow pupils the opportunity to have real life experiences linked to the key enquiries and investigations that have formed their Science lessons. Some of the enrichment activities the children have enjoyed are: Sublime Science workshops and visiting Magna.

Careers

Learning in science is all about innovation, discovery and research. Careers in science are genuinely some of the most exciting, interesting and significant out there, they are diverse. It’s all about improving people’s lives, improving commercial enterprises and developing knowledge and understanding of people, nature, the world and the universe. The teaching and learning of science supports careers, such as:

Biomedical engineer
Clinical psychologist
Clinical scientist (various fields)
Crime scene investigator
Doctor
Forensic scientist
Meteorologist
Nurse
Pharmacist
Researcher
Teacher

Scientist Coverage

At Loscoe C of E Primary, we follow the Kapow Curriculum, however we adapt this to meet the local needs of our children and enrichment opportunities. We work on a one year cycle in Reception and Key Stage 1 and a two year cycle in lower and upper Key Stage 2. The complete lists of scientists that we will cover can be found in our school’s medium term plans, as these are related to our topics. We will however cover a wide variety of men and women from different cultures, inspirational scientists who are living with different disabilities, alongside covering scientists that are both alive and dead.

SMSC

Sometimes science and spiritual ideas do cause conflict but in a modern society it is important to understand why these conflicts arise so that we can respect the views of others and move forward. Through Spiritual development at Loscoe, we allow children to experience: awe and wonder, explore the values and beliefs of others, understand human feelings and emotions and use imagination and creativity in their learning.

Moral development is a vital part of any scientist’s development. Our children will need to develop a good understanding of it in order to delve into ethical questions but more importantly to become a good rounded scientist. Through Moral development at Loscoe, we encourage children to: investigate moral values and ethical issues, recognise right and wrong and how to be proactive in society and globally and to understand the consequences of their actions past, present and in the future.

Science is changing our society. Life expectancy is increasing, people are driving more efficient cars, more and more people are putting solar panels on their rooftops. Our society has become dependent on scientific developments which we could not have foreseen 50 years ago but also our lives are likely to change significantly in the future because of our reckless damaging activities to the environment as a human society. We will teach our pupils to consider their impact on the world around them and start to look at what we can do to help the next generation have a habitable planet.

Scientific development comes from all across the world, from people of all backgrounds and cultures. Some of science’s most important discoveries have come from other parts of the world and it’s important for our children to understand this. It is also important to understand how the different cultures around the world can have different impacts on the planet and what impact more economically developed countries have on poorer areas. We will teach our children to: explore, understand and respect diversity, learn about and celebrate the role scientists have played in our society.

British Values

Open discussions about Science, and evaluating others' work creates an environment that is accepting of different beliefs, opinions and abilities of others. Children learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others’ views in Science, and show tolerance of these. All of our scientific experiences teach them that everyone is important, and that everyone will have different life experiences and skills that we can celebrate and respect. Science requires a lot of teamwork, where children will take a democratic approach to working collaboratively, including making compromises and sharing decisions.

Protected Characteristics

At Loscoe C of E Primary, we want to give our children an open, respectful and realistic mindset towards the wonderful world we live in and how this relates to science. We strive to expose them to a range of significant scientists from all different backgrounds related to the protected characteristics, and have planned for this in our varied curriculum.

Useful links and websites including things you can do with your child

Things you can do with your child in the local area related to science include:

Magna in Rotherham: Magna Science | Magna Science Adventure Centre (visitmagna.co.uk)

Poolsbrook Country Park, Rother Valley Country Park.

Chesterfield observatory in Newbold: The Chesterfield Barnett Observatory - Chesterfield Observatory (chesterfield-observatory.co.uk)

National Space Centre, Leicester: https://spacecentre.co.uk/

Think Tank, Birmingham: https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank

Useful website links:

Best Outdoor Science Activities and Projects That Are Fun and Engaging (weareteachers.com)

KS1 Science - England - BBC Bitesize

KS2 Science - BBC Bitesize

National Geographic Kids