Hagbourne Science Curriculum

Intent

At Hagbourne Primary School, we aim to give all children a strong understanding and a natural curiosity of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.

At Hagbourne Primary School, we follow the White Rose Science scheme of learning objectives and progression (except EYFS).  The scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as Plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail in Key Stage Two. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory.  Learning in science involves children and young people building their knowledge of important concepts and procedures. At Hagbourne we are committed to capitalising on the power of dialogue.  Dialogue supports pupils to integrate new ideas with their current knowledge, identify gaps in their understanding and reorganise their thoughts to allow for metacognition.  This means that it is important that learners develop a secure understanding of previously taught concepts and procedures.

All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions.  Subject specific vocabulary for topics is introduced and explicitly taught and built upon year on year, alongside effective enquiring and questioning to investigate and communicate ideas.

Implementation

EYFS

In Early Years, the specific area of learning of ‘Understanding the world’ contains the Science objectives which are covered.  The fundamental groundwork of purposeful dialogue is laid.  Children learn how to listen to others, disagree with amicably and explore how to work together.  

Year 1 - 6

Teachers follow the White Rose objectives and progression spines to plan exciting and engaging science lessons for their current cohort.  Using their professional judgement, Teachers draw on a range of different resources to support teaching the White Rose objectives including Stem.org.uk, Explorify, Hamilton, Twinkl, PlanBee and the use of a wide range of multimedia to inspire the children in their class.  All years should plan six practical investigations per year (one per half term) in which children build on practical skills. Evidence of work for year groups should be in Curriculum books and displays.

EYFS and Key Stage 1

Key Stage 1 learners will regularly experience first-hand practical activities to explore and spark their interest for scientific thinking.  Scientific dialogue and enquiry weaves throughout the whole of the Key Stage 1 curriculum, so practical activities should be considered which support and develop their understanding of scientific ideas and ability to think and explain things like a scientist.  Secondary sources such as books, photos, videos and simulations should be used to help children and young people learn and make sense of the scientific content.  

Key Stage 2

In lower Key Stage 2, learners will be encouraged to broaden their scientific view of the world around them through exploration, discussion, testing and developing ideas. In upper Key Stage 2, learners begin to learn about more abstract concepts which support learners in comprehending and predicting how the world around them works.  Learners should continue to build on the foundational skills of exploration and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions; analysing functions, becoming methodical when identifying relationships and interactions.

To ensure the curriculum is fully inclusive, teaching staff carefully consider the objective of each individual lesson; what specifically do they want pupils to learn? How can they present new information in a way that all learners can access? How complex ideas can be broken down into simpler parts for pupils to learn and practice?  How can they focus the learner's attention on the new content?  For example, learners could observe and explore a stimulus to hook them into the new learning.  This could be an object, a model, or an image.  It will encourage learners to ask questions about their learning and build in opportunities for small group and whole-class discussions.  Oracy-led sessions, with visuals to support the access of all learners, can enable the teacher to build on and extend their learners’ scientific thinking.  Learning should be as hands-on as possible, especially for teachers to bring abstract concepts to life through concrete resources and comparisons.  Teachers can support learners who struggle to access lessons by:-

• Providing topical word banks and picture cards that the learner can point or refer to when explaining scientific processes.

• Asking teaching assistants to collate word/picture banks on a mini whiteboard/ paper with the learner during the teaching input to support their independent learning activity.

• Scaffold learning to make it accessible for all, e.g., if writing up the method for their experiment, a learner with writing difficulties could verbally explain for them or a teaching assistant to scribe, note-take or film explaining their answers.