Science

Be Ambitious    Be Curious    Be a Risk Taker

At St Mary’s we aim to develop children’s curiosity and broaden their scientific thinking to encourage a love and passion of Science. Our children are encouraged to be ambitious learners, ask questions, take risks and be creative in order to explore scientific ideas and concepts. It is through this approach that children at our school understand the importance of science in our world today and also for the future.

‘The important thing is to never stop questioning’. Albert Einstein.

Intent

At St Mary’s our children develop their scientific knowledge, working scientifically skills and conceptual understanding through a broad and balanced, sequential curriculum, which inspires their ambition, encourages them to take risks and stimulates their curiosity about the world around them. Our enriched Science curriculum is a knowledge- engaged progress model which clearly outlines the key knowledge and vocabulary for each stage of the learning sequence. We also inspire a passion for learning in our children and build confidence to enable them to ask and answer questions and explore scientific lines of enquiry through practical activity, discussion and exploration.

Implementation

At St Mary’s we are passionate about implementing our Science curriculum through a rigorous, sequential, inquiry- based approach.  Lessons are structured to improve metacognition in the children. Every lesson is defined by a clear outcome, with key knowledge and vocabulary shared with our pupils. Our teaching lesson principles are retrieve, explain, modelling of new concepts, checking understanding and application of learning through creative, practical activities and discussion.  Alongside delivering substantive knowledge, we also teach children the disciplinary knowledge for them to think like a scientist. We develop children’s understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through exposing them to a variety of science enquiries and outdoor experiences that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them. 

We want to ensure that children are equipped with the scientific knowledge to understand the uses and importance of Science both today and for the future

Impact

As a result of Science teaching at St Mary’s you will see:

Children at St Mary’s are able to explain and demonstrate scientific concepts using key vocabulary to deepen their thinking. They can ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them and can suggest ways in which to answer these questions using one of the five types of scientific enquiry:

• comparative / fair testing.
• research.
• observation over time.
• pattern seeking.
• identifying, grouping, and classifying.
• problem solving.

Children are proud of the work that they produce which is demonstrated in the presentation and understanding of the work. Children are excited about their Science lessons and speak about how they enjoy learning through practical, creative and inquiry based activities.

Enrichment

At St. Mary’s we enrich our Science curriculum by:

• Planning bespoke whole school science activities each term, provided by specialist practitioners.
• Educational visits for children in Key Stage one and Key Stage two to stem museums linked to current Science topics which enhances the classroom learning.
• Enrichment activities for Key Stage one and Key Stage two pupils including Forest School.
• Whole school Science Selfie Competition to raise the ‘enjoyment of science with the school community.
• Termly workshop visits for Key Stage 2 from the Malton School Science Van linked to current Science topic.