Science – Skelton Primary School

Intent

We encourage our children to be inquisitive throughout their time at school and beyond. Through our engaging curriculum, we aim to inspire the children to develop skills for enquiry, nurture their curiosity and increase their desire to learn more about the world around them. We develop skills in specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics to secure their conceptual understanding. We teach children the role of scientific enquiry in the wider world and how it has an impact on society, the environment as well as the uses and implications of science today and for the future. Our children will leave ready to be tomorrows doctors, engineers, botanist, palaeontologists or anything they set their minds to.

Implementation

Ready, Reflective, Respectful, Responsible, Resilient

Teachers create a positive attitude to science within their classrooms and reinforce the expectation that all pupils can achieve high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching of science involves the following.

Science is taught weekly as a discrete subject in line with the National Curriculum.
Through carefully thought-out planning, children are given opportunities to problem solve, apply their knowledge and find answers for themselves.
We build upon the knowledge and skills developed in previous years to ensure continuous progression in science. As children’s understanding deepens, they become more proficient in selecting and using scientific equipment, as well as in collecting and interpreting results. This growing competence leads to increased confidence in their ability to draw conclusions based on real evidence.
Teachers use a range of enquiry types (observing over time, pattern seeking, identifying, classifying and grouping, comparative and fair testing, and research using secondary sources).
New vocabulary is introduced through explicit teaching and is carefully built upon each year, in line with the vocabulary progression document.

In Early Years

Children beginning their journey as being a scientist in EYFS. We aim to make Science an exciting subject for children, who are naturally curious and have questioning minds. Learning is planned around a wide range of experiences that are introduced to children in the early years so that they can begin to develop their scientific knowledge. Inquisitive children can easily be encouraged to find things out for themselves by carrying out simple experiments, making observations, and sharing their discoveries. Scientific learning generally falls under the following Early Learning Goals.

The Natural World

Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants; Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class; Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter

Communication and Language: Listening, Attention and Understanding

Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.

In Key Stage 1

Year 1	Plants identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.	Animals Including Humans identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivoresdescribe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets) identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.	Everyday Materials distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.	Seasonal Changes observe changes across the four seasons observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies
Year 2	Plants observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy	Animals Including Humans notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.	Everyday Materials identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching	Living Things and their Habitats explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each otheridentify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitatsdescribe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.

Year 1	Plants identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.	Animals Including Humans identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivoresdescribe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets) identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.	Everyday Materials distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.	Seasonal Changes observe changes across the four seasons observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies
Year 2	Plants observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy	Animals Including Humans notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.	Everyday Materials identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching	Living Things and their Habitats explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each otheridentify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitatsdescribe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.

In Key Stage 2

Lower Key Stage 2

	Plants	Animals Including Humans	Rocks	Light	Forces and Magnets
Year 3	Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant investigate the way in which water is transported within plants explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.	Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.	Compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.	Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light notice that light is reflected from surfaces recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.	Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light notice that light is reflected from surfaces recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
	Sound	Animals Including Humans	States of Matter	Living Things and their Habitats	Electricity
Year 4	Identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.	Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.	Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C) identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature	Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things	Identify common appliances that run on electricity construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuitrecognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors

Upper Key Stage 2

	Earth and Space	Animals Including Humans	Properties and changes of materials	Living Things and their Habitats	Forces
Year 5	Describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky	Describe the changes as humans develop to old age	Compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changesexplain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.	Describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.	Explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect
	Evolution and Inheritance	Animals Including Humans	Light	Living Things and their Habitats	Electricity
Year 6	Recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution	Identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans	Recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.	Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics	Associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

Scientific Enquiry

As children progress through school children are taught the skills of working like a scientist.

Key Stage 1	Lower Key Stage 2	Upper Key Stage 2
asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways observing closely, using simple equipment performing simple tests identifying and classifying using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions gathering and recording data to help in answering questions	asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings	planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments

Impact

In order to effectively design tasks it is imperative that the classroom teacher understands fully the success that pupils have had with their learning. We use our purpose built App to track skills progress across Science.

Teachers assess pupils’ knowledge, understanding and enquiry skills through observation, questioning, written work, and practical investigations.

Assessment is used to inform planning and identify next steps in learning.

Live marking is expected during science lessons. When children get something incorrect, teachers judge if this is an error (which can be corrected by the child) or a misconception (which needs additional modelling / teaching from an adult). Science editing is completed in purple pens to correct an error.

The Science Subject Leader monitors attainment and progress across the school through data analysis, book scrutiny, and pupil voice.

It is worth noting that we define success in our curriculum beyond the assessment of the foundation subjects. We also look to build self –belief and respect so that all children develop a sense of self-worth. We hope to see the children realise new skills and find new interests and talents along their learning journey.