ST MARY'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

'Being Scientists' at St. Mary's       

Intent

At St Mary’s, we aspire for all our children to develop a love for Science and care for the natural world around them. We teach our children to think, talk and write like scientists. We equip them with the appropriate language, substantive understanding and disciplinary skills so that they can better understand the world through Science, and never cease asking thoughtful questions about our amazing world. We intend for Science to be an engaging, practical subject which stimulates the children’s own natural curiosity about the world; giving them the opportunity to understand and explore Science in their everyday lives, to build on from prior knowledge and to link it to other areas of understanding. 

Implementation

Science is taught as part of an inter-disciplinary, Enquiry-led curriculum, which was introduced in September 2023. A whole school long term overview ensures all the National Curriculum knowledge and skills are included as part of different enquiries, so that in depth Science learning happens every term. Teachers use 2 separate progression maps to ensure that knowledge and skills are systematically developed from one year group to another, rather than repeated. Linking new learning to previous knowledge and skills ensures sticky learning, and also ensures any misconceptions can be redressed.

Scientific vocabulary and knowledge are outlined in Knowledge Organisers which form the core learning of each unit. These are published on our website for everyone to access, especially EAL families. There is a big emphasis on proper oracy in Science at St Mary’s and children are taught to describe the how and what of Science in everyday language as well as specialist, technical language. This specialist scientific language is carefully built up as children progress through the year groups, and multiple opportunities are made for children to use it accurately and precisely.

Working scientifically skills are explicitly taught, so that our children know how to ‘be Scientists’, and these disciplinary skills are carefully embedded within the most appropriate units of learning so that the what and the how are intricately woven together.

When possible, opportunities are taken to link our Science curriculum with the local area and our school community so that children see the real-world links with their learning e.g. visits to Savages Wood local nature reserve, visits to the Aerospace Concorde Museum, class visits by parents who work in local STEM industries.

Learning is reinforced and cemented at the start of each lesson through fun, mini quizzes and at the end of every big Enquiry in the form of an engaging challenge and a mini assessment. We are on a journey to also embed the TAPS system of assessment for Working Scientifically skills.

Impact

As a result of the Science education learners receive at St Mary’s, our children are passionate about understanding the world around them as Scientists. They can recall prior scientific learning and link that learning to understand new concepts and skills, including linking Science to other subject areas, and to the everyday world around them. They can speak confidently about Science and can use appropriate scientific vocabulary in oral and written form. They are increasingly able to plan and carry out investigations independently, interpret and evaluate their results, and generate further questions based on their conclusions. They are successful in sharing their understanding of scientific concepts with others. We have high expectations that all children will consistently meet their own age-related expectations in Science.

C. Molloy, Science Lead, 2024

If you want to be a Scientist at home, try looking at these websites:

Explorify

Primary Science Teaching Trust

National Geographic for kids

NASA for kids