Intent
At Lydgate, our goal is to encourage our children to be curious about the world around them, begin to understand how things work and question what they see every day in order to become scientists. We teach them key disciplinary knowledge in order to support this.
We follow the National Curriculum for science establishing cross-curricular links where appropriate.
Science is taught regularly throughout the school, beginning in Reception, and these lessons build up the children’s scientific skills and knowledge, equipping them with solid foundations for understanding the world. Through these lessons, the children are able to learn about a variety of biology, chemistry and physics topics, including Plants and Animals, Everyday Materials, Light, Sound, and Earth and Space.
Reception - Science runs through the English lessons in Reception and the children are taught about materials, habitats, plants and water. Reception children are provided with lots of hands on learning opportunities, such as planting seeds, investigating whether materials are waterproof, and observing butterflies and chicks hatch and grow.
Key Stage 1 and 2 - As the children move up through school, our science lessons provide the children with a variety of opportunities to work scientifically, set within the context of exploring the world around them. We carry out comparative tests, classify and group, observe over time, research and look carefully for patterns, while in KS2 we also aim to develop the children’s awareness of the uses and implications of science. Practical lessons are at the heart of what we do, and the children really enjoy them! In these lessons they are encouraged to make predictions about what might happen, explain the method that we are using, and begin to analyse and reason about the results. At Lydgate we are very fortunate to have access to our brilliant school grounds, which we use at every possible opportunity to give the children more first-hand experience, particularly with looking for and identifying plants and other living things.
As teachers we are always looking for ways to make links across the curriculum, and science lessons provide us with excellent opportunities to do this. Asking the children to measure and record their own data works on their maths skills, while writing explanations about their findings improves their English abilities to name just two. We also feel that it is really important to teach the children about significant people who have influenced science, including Carl Linnaeus, Mary Anning, and Charles Darwin.
We organise visits to enrich the curriculum. For e.g. Wonderdome in UKS2 and a trip to Crow Nest Park for KS1.
In KS1, LKS2 and UKS2, the units are taught in a two-year cycle.
Cycle 1 – Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 objectives
Cycle 2 – Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 objectives
Reception - Click here for the Reception curriculum in science through the Understanding the World area of learning
Click here for the LONG TERM PLAN Cycle 1 and Cycle 2
Progression of Knowledge
Click here for the PROGRESSION OF KNOWLEDGE in the science curriculum
Working Scientifically coverage
Click here for the progression of working scientifically strand through school
Implementation
Science is timetabled weekly and is taught by the class teacher. In every lesson, the sequence of lessons is established, prior knowledge recapped and key vocabulary shared. The key knowledge and skills for the lessons are identified in the planning and progression established.
The science lessons are well resourced and these are regularly audited.
Monitoring - Every year, the subject lead conducts a work scrutiny to ensure parity and progression. Regular pupil interviews are conducted to evaluate learning against intent. The subject lead also observes a sample of lessons through school. Through the monitoring process, next steps are identified and shared in staff meetings. Examples of work across school are collected by the subject lead in order to support with modelling and have evidence to show progression.
Impact
At the end of every unit, staff assess the children for the unit covered and the data updated every half term onto a tracker. This is accessible to all staff including the Subject Lead. In KS1, assessment of the unit is done in groups while in KS2, end of unit quizzes are administered and learning assessed. Quizzes for SEND children are appropriately differentiated.
Lessons show a clear progression of skills and knowledge as laid out in the progression document.
Pupil interviews show that the children are able to articulate their learning and use subject specific vocabulary. Pupils are usually picked by the subject lead based on the assessment tracker.
Lesson observations show that staff are confident in delivering the curriculum.
Links with the industry:
- Change Project – Until last year, we were a part of a group of schools involve in the Change project which linked art and science. We have worked closely with artists over the years covering a range of topics including sound, plants and parts of flowers and the animal kingdom. This was sponsored by Cummins, UK.