Science

Intent

At St Elizabeth’s, we aim for children to have acquired the essential characteristics of scientists:

The ability to think independently and raise questions about working scientifically and the knowledge and skills that it brings.
Confidence and competence in the full range of practical skills, taking the initiative in, for example, planning and carrying out scientific investigations.
Excellent scientific knowledge and understanding which is demonstrated in written and verbal explanations, solving challenging problems and reporting scientific findings.
High levels of originality, imagination or innovation in the application of skills.
The ability to undertake practical work in a variety of contexts, including fieldwork.
A passion for science and its application in past, present and future technologies

We believe Science is crucial in terms of the children learning the essential skills they need to be resilient leaders. We believe in a hands-on teaching and learning approach that encapsulates the spirit of what Science is all about, so that the children will forever be ‘Scientists’ in the way that they interact with the world around them. Our science curriculum reflects this, through our mixture of theory and working scientifically; topics are planned in such a way that pupils are taught key substantive knowledge first so that they can then apply this when working scientifically. The thoughts and opinions of our children is of great importance when planning the curriculum and learning experience and this approach of theory and hands-on learning is what excites and enthuses them.

Implementation

Overviews and progression, taken from programmes of study and Chris Quigley Curriculum Companion.
Overviews broken down into medium term planning showing both theory and working scientifically.
Medium term plans broken down into objectives of key knowledge and working scientifically.
Which is used to form exciting, practical and theory-based lessons for each topic of work.
Topics are assessed by the teacher using INSIGHT.