Science

Intent for Science

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, Healthy Futures.

In Science at Norman Pannell, we recognise its importance in many aspects of everyday life. Therefore, it is our vision to instil a lifelong love of Science within our pupils. Our aim is to provide children with stimulating and challenging experiences which secure and extend their scientific knowledge, skills and vocabulary. We will encourage our children to become curious and inquisitive learners, promoting purposeful enquiry that will excite all children to confidently explore the world around them.

Implementation of Science

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in Science, we implement a curriculum which is progressive throughout the whole school. Our curriculum gives full coverage of, ‘The National Curriculum programmes of study for Science 2014’ and, ‘Understanding of the World’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

We do the following in order to deliver our curriculum in Science:

• Science in the Early Years is taught through many topics throughout the year under the objective 'Understanding the World'. Through topic work and play-based activities, the children have many opportunities to find out about the world around them as well as making predictions, making links and testing their ideas.
• In KS1/KS2, Science is taught consistently, once a week for up to two hours, but is discretely taught in many different contexts throughout all areas of the curriculum. For example, through English, i.e. writing a letter to a local politician regarding single use plastic.
• A whole-school long-term plan follows the progressive objects as set out in the National Curriculum.
• Teachers plan for their year groups, following Medium Term Plans with built-in skills progression.
• The plans also consider key vocabulary, cross-curricular links and quality assessment.
• Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills in order to embed scientific understanding.
• Children are offered events such as Science Week, trips and visitors to complement and broaden the curriculum, allowing purposeful links between knowledge taught in class and the application of skills.
• Throughout each half-term topics will include:
  • an initial knowledge circle to record ideas and possible enquiry questions.
  • a sequence of lessons which develop the knowledge and understanding of the topic with key vocabulary embedded.
  • practical experiment(s) planned and carried out with results explored and analysed.
  • fair test(s) planned and carried out with results explored and analysed.
  • an assessment task that allows all children to display understanding of the topic knowledge, scientific vocabulary and enquiry skills within the unit.​​​​​​

Key documents for implementation:

• Action Plan
• Long Term Overview
• Medium Term Topic Plans

Impact of Science

The impact of our Science intentions and implementation is to ensure children not only acquire the appropriate age-related knowledge linked to the science curriculum, but also skills which equip them to progress from their starting points, and within their everyday lives.

All children will have:

• A wider variety of skills linked to both scientific knowledge and understanding, and scientific enquiry/investigative skills;
• A richer vocabulary which will enable children to articulate their understanding of taught concepts; and
• High aspirations, which will see them through to further study, work and a successful adult life.

The impact is measured through on-going assessments by class teachers as well as book monitoring and pupil voice carried out by the Science Subject Lead.

Nanny Marion is having trouble with her biscuits, her biscuit always crumbles in her tea. Poor Nanny Marion never gets to eat her biscuits!

Today Year 2 experimented which biscuit is best for dunking, each group had 5 biscuits and put each one to the dunk test! Ask your child how many dunks their biscuits lasted.

Nanny Marion will be so pleased!

The year 2 children experimented the different ways a solid can change shape using play doh.

Learning about plants in year 3 

Year 3 enjoyed planning an investigation about plants and what they need in order for them to grow. The children each have a plant which they will observe over the coming weeks. 

Maths within Science

Here is some of the work that Years 2, 3 and 5 have done in Science with Maths integrated into their work.  

Gardening club

Today Jimmy and Gardening club planted potato's which will be ready to harvest in 8 weeks.

Sunflowers

In gardening club we planted these sunflowers and just look at how big they have grown. We are hoping they grow this big again next year.