Science

At Lakey Lane, we recognise the importance of Science in shaping and understanding the world around us and how it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We aim to provide the foundations for understanding the world through Biology, Physics and Chemistry as well as developing children’s knowledge, methods, processes and uses of Science.

We aim to deliver our curriculum through 3 key drivers and our 6 school values which underpin our children’s learning.

Ambition - Through a fun and engaging curriculum, we want to inspire children to be the scientists of the future and part of solving the challenges facing our world. We will enhance their ability to think critically and draw their own conclusions.

Self-belief - We aim to give children a solid foundation for scientific learning by equipping them with a broad knowledge and a wide range of skills which will enable them to develop their independence, confidence and open-mindedness during scientific investigation.

Community - Through a varied curriculum, our children learn about environments outside of their own experiences. We aim to promote enquiries which engage with real issues in today’s world. 

Respect - Through an enhanced understanding of the natural world and creatures within it, we aim to promote respect for living organisms and the natural environment.

Curiosity - We want to inspire children to ask questions about the world around them and consider ways of finding the answers. We endeavour to develop a sense of excitement, curiosity and fascination about natural phenomena that will remain with the children for the rest of their lives. From Nursery to Year 6, our pupils will build a foundation of key knowledge and concepts as well as develop skills in scientific enquiry and questioning. We actively encourage children to be inquisitive and direct their own learning by suggesting approaches to investigations and further areas of exploration.

Kindness - We encourage our children to work as part of a team, collaborating in scientific investigations and learning from each other.

Implementation

Our Science curriculum is planned to demonstrate progression and enables children to develop their scientific investigative skills alongside building knowledge of Physics, Biology and Chemistry. Within these areas children improve their knowledge, skills and vocabulary whilst developing a curiosity of the natural world.

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Science, at Lakey we implement a curriculum that is progressive from Early Years through Key Stage 2 as it builds upon prior knowledge and lays the foundation for work in Key Stage 3.

Lakey Lane Primary School have adopted and adapted the ‘Cornerstones’ scheme of teaching to ensure coverage and progression and to enable consistent delivery of all aspects of the National Curriculum Science Programmes of Study.  

There are links between the Science driver projects and Geography and DT units to make learning more engaging and purposeful and provide a real world context.

Our curriculum is designed to encourage active participation through practical investigation work wherever possible.

• In Early Years, Scientific learning is woven into continuous provision with a half termly focus following the subject overviews. In Key Stage 1 Science is taught for an afternoon each week and in Years 3 - 6 lessons average 1hr 20mins a week. These sessions are planned and taught by class teachers.
  ●Detailed lesson structure is provided through the Cornerstones scheme of work and ensures progression of scientific knowledge and skills.
  ●Each classroom has an appropriate selection of scientific phrases/vocabulary displayed to reinforce vocabulary being covered.
  ●Written work is recorded in work books with some photographic evidence to support investigative work.
  ●Children will have the opportunity to engage and participate in activities involving science in a wider context during British Science Week every year.

Prior learning is reviewed and reinforced during ‘ticking over’ sessions at the start of each lesson and at the beginning of each project an introductory knowledge session is used to assess children’s current understanding.

The needs of all pupils are carefully considered in the planning stage and lessons adapted accordingly.

For each unit of work there is a corresponding knowledge organiser which children are familiarised with at the start of the teaching, it is referred to throughout the unit and also gets shared with parents. The knowledge organiser details key vocabulary and knowledge that will be taught.

We are looking to develop our offer of trips/experiences linked to Science to deepen our children’s curiosity of the natural world and further promote an interest in Science.

Pupil learning and progression is identified in the end of project assessments. This enables teachers to put in place any intervention needed to address areas that require attention. Lessons are adapted throughout the teaching sequence based on lesson to lesson assessment for learning.

Breakdown of the Curriculum

In Nursery, children identify different human body parts and learn that objects are made from different materials and begin to name some such as plastic, wood and glass. In Spring they are introduced to the concept of shadows and learn about different animals and their body parts. Spring term finishes with the very beginnings of electricity and children explore battery powered toys. Summer term begins with a focus on how living things grow and change and the basics that animals and plants need to survive. Nursery concludes with the children developing their understanding that different materials are used for different things with a focus on the property of waterproof. This is linked to exploring floating and sinking. In Reception, building on Nursery's introduction to parts of the body, children now consider how different body parts are used for different things. In Superhero School in Autumn 2 children explore and describe electrical and non-electrical objects and begin to investigate magnets. In Spring term they develop their knowledge of materials by naming and sorting every day items according to their properties. They also further develop their understanding of living things as they learn about growth and decay and the basic features of plants and trees. In Summer the study of living things focuses on humans and animals - the idea that they grow and change from babies, eat different foods and have different body parts. Summer term concludes with describing, predicting and sorting things that float and sink. 

In Year 1, children start the autumn term with Everyday Materials, linking this learning to the design and technology project Shade and Shelter. In the Human Senses project, they learn about parts of the human body and those associated with the senses. In the spring project Seasonal Changes, they learn broadly about seasonal changes linked to weather, living things and day length. They revisit some of this learning in the following summer term project Plant Parts. They finish with the project Animal Parts, linking back to their knowledge about body parts and senses and identifying commonalities. In Year 2, children begin the autumn term with the project Human Survival, learning about the survival needs of humans, before expanding to study animals within their habitats in the project Habitats. Building on learning from Year 1, children learn about the uses of materials in the spring project Uses of Materials and begin to understand changes of materials through simple physical manipulation, such as bending and twisting. The spring Plant Survival project also explores survival, with children observing what plants need to grow and stay healthy. Finally, in the project Animal Survival, children bring together learning from the autumn term, thinking about what animals need to survive. 

Having learned about human body parts, the senses and survival in Key Stage 1, children now focus on specific body systems and nutrition in Key Stage 2. In the autumn term of Year 3, they learn about the skeletal and muscular system in the project Skeletal and Muscular Systems. This learning again links to other animals, with children identifying similarities and differences. Children also learn about healthy diets alongside the autumn term design and technology project Cook Well, Eatwell. In the spring term, properties of materials are revisited in the project Forces and Magnets, with children identifying magnetic materials and learning about the non-contact force of magnetism. They also begin to learn about contact forces, investigating how things move over surfaces. Science learning about rocks and soils is delivered through the geography project Rocks, Relics and Rumbles. Children begin to link structure to function in the summer Plant Nutrition and Reproduction project, identifying the plant parts associated with reproduction and water transport. Children finish the

year with the project Light and Shadows, where they are explicitly introduced to the subject of light, with children learning about shadows and reflections, revisiting language from Key Stage 1, including opaque and transparent.

In the autumn term of Year 4, children learn about the digestive system, again making comparisons to other animals, in the project Digestive System. The second autumn term project Sound introduces the concept of sound, with children identifying how sounds are made and travel. They learn and use new vocabulary, such as pitch and volume, and identify properties of materials associated with these concepts. In the spring term children study electricity by creating and recording simple circuits in the project Electrical Circuits and Conductors. They also build on their knowledge of the properties of materials, identifying electrical conductors and insulators. In the summer term project States of Matter, children learn about solids, liquids and gases and their characteristics. They understand how temperature drives change of state and link this learning to the project Misty Mountain, Winding River, in which children learn about the water cycle. Up to this point, children have had many opportunities for grouping and sorting living things. In the final summer project Grouping and Classifying, children recognise this as ‘classification’ and explore classification keys.

In the autumn term of Year 5, children broaden their knowledge of forces, including gravity and air and water resistance, in the project Forces and Mechanisms. They revisit learning from design and technology projects, including Making It Move and Moving Mechanisms, to explore various mechanisms and their uses. Their knowledge of gravity supports the autumn term project Earth and Space, so they can understand the forces that shape planets and our solar system. They also develop their understanding of day and night, first explored in the Year 1 project Seasonal Changes. In the spring term children will learn that animals and plants produce offspring study plant and animal life cycles in Sow, Grow and Farm. In the Summer term project Properties and Changes of Materials, children revisit much of their prior learning about materials’ properties and learn new properties, including thermal conductivity and solubility. To this point, children have learned much about reversible changes, such as melting and freezing, but now extend their learning to irreversible changes, including chemical changes. Children will focus on the human life cycle and sexual reproduction in the summer term but this is taught through the RHE curriculum.

In Year 6, the final body system children learn about is the circulatory system and its roles in transporting water, nutrients and gases in the autumn term project Circulatory System. Science learning about classification is delivered through the spring term geography project Frozen Kingdoms. In the spring term, in the project Evolution and Inheritance, children learn about inheritance and understand why offspring are not identical to their parents. They also learn about natural selection and how this can lead to the evolution of a species. In the Summer projects, children also build on their knowledge about electrical circuits from Year 4, now learning and recording standard symbols for circuit components and investigating the function of components and the effects of voltage on a circuit in the project Electrical Circuits and Components. Finally, children recognise that light travels in straight lines from a source or reflector to the eye and explain the shape of shadows.

Impact

Our Science curriculum encourages our children to develop their practical skills whilst working collaboratively to gain coherent knowledge and promote a curiosity of the natural world.  They leave Lakey as critical thinkers who understand the importance of investigation and enquiry. Through rich classroom discussion, scientific vocabulary is developed and children are encouraged to question and expand their enquiring minds. They take this curiosity with them and apply it to their future endeavours both in school and beyond. 

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Pupils’ reflections and verbal discussions about their learning; evaluations at the end of each unit to assess their own development as well as pupil interviews with school leaders.
• Evidence (written and photographic) in books that demonstrates the curriculum has been followed and implemented, along with end of project assessments and tasks to showcase learning.
• Children’s engagement and enjoyment while carrying out investigative tasks and experiments and when participating in educational visits and experiences.