Science
Curriculum Lead - Miss Haigh
Intent
At Hepworth J & I School we want a science curriculum that inspires, motivates and encourages the next generation of innovators. We want our curriculum to allow children to lead their own learning and research through questioning, using project-based tasks, combined with key knowledge acquisition and retentions of facts. We want our children to develop life skills through our science curriculum, to think critically, employ trial and improvement skills, gain resilience and be respectful of the world around them. At Hepworth we are passionate for our science curriculum to reflect our eco values and expose our children to environmentally-friendly changes we can make together. Through our curriculum we aim to nurture and develop the natural curiosity of the child, by exposing them to STEM related concepts linked to others areas of the curriculum. This will promote enquiry-based learners who are developing their own ideas for our changing world and the evolving occupations of the future. We want our curriculum to be inclusive, and allow those children with more practical, engineering talents to also be enthused by our science curriculum.
Implementation
Our whole school curriculum leads pupils through a progression of skills and knowledge which are built upon in each class.
Teachers will gain ‘current’ knowledge of a subject prior to teaching to provide a starting point
Any relevant gaps in previous knowledge from earlier year groups will be identified and revised to support children to ‘know more and remember more’
Key knowledge vocabulary lists will be in books for children to identify and recall
Pupils will have 1 hour of science teaching per week incorporating working scientifically skills, investigation and knowledge-based learning.
Pupils will complete one unit of work per year through a STEM project following an engineering design process
At the end of each term each class holds a carousel of STEM activities to assess learning in a real life circumstance, to deliver our tinkering school initiative and to encourage STEM skills including problem solving, collaborative learning and child led learning.
At the end of the unit the ‘current’ knowledge is revisited and updated with new learning to identify progress
Science assessments take place at the end of each term on a spreadsheet to inform further planning
EYFS follow ‘Understanding of the world’ and have floor books, and whole class STEM projects to record and evidence ideas and investigations.
Impact:
The impact of this curriculum design will lead to outstanding progress over time, across key stages, relative to a child’s individual starting point and their progression of skills. Therefore, children will be expected to leave Hepworth being knowledgeable and enthusiastic about science and reach at least age-related expectations. Children will develop a love for science, they will become inquisitive learners and understand that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Our children will have strong ideas, and will articulate how Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths all impact our world and our future. Children will be aware of different scientists, inventors and researchers and the impact they have had. We want to empower our children so they understand they have the capability to change the world! This is evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their work and their overwhelming enjoyment for science.
