SCIENCE AT THE GROVE
INTENT
“The most important thing is to never stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.“ Albert Einstein.
When children leave The Grove, they will be curious, critical thinkers, organized, focused, have good observational and communication skills and be able to form their own opinions. A strong level of knowledge and understanding will built upon in layers in order that they have real mastery and can channel this knowledge and understanding, making it a transferable skill. The Science Curriculum is based on the National Curriculum but is Child Led. Children will ask questions, make predictions, observe, test (including fair testing), and then communicate their findings. This will be achieved through FUN, ENGAGING, PROBLEM SOLVING, DISCOVERY activities that have been planned to meet the needs of, challenge and support individuals. Children will be encouraged to value and get excited by mistakes, to question and challenge validity and develop a strong Growth Mindset. Children will leave with a vocational understanding of how science impacts on real life and their worlds will be open to a life filled with science!
This progression grid can support any subject leader or teacher of science to ensure progression of skills and knowledge.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our curriculum is built around deep thinking and encourages learners to use a question as the starting point, considering different avenues for further research. They do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They draw simple conclusions and use scientific language to talk and write about what they have found out.
Each knowledge topic is planned to retrieve knowledge previously covered and then follow our 4 stage sequence of teaching; ignite and inspire, deep practice, mastery and showcase. Built into this is a pre topic and post topic assessment. Each key stage focuses on different themes to ensure continued interest in the subject as well as acquiring new knowledge. We have a balance between working scientifically and learning facts. We ensure that learning is progressive and continuous.
Each science topic begins with a ‘wow’ tasks that provides a hook for learning, developing a sense of excitement and curiosity for children – ignite and inspire. Teachers check on what children already know and then invite children to think of their own questions. During deep practice, children will be able to build on prior knowledge and link ideas together, enabling them to question and become enquiry based learners. Children will be supported through the mastery stage of the teaching sequence. Children will then have the opportunity to showcase their learning. This stage provides children with an opportunity to share their learning more widely with other children and parents through a variety of means e.g. learning presentations, talks, report writing etc.
Memorable knowledge and skills have been identified for each of the units to provide progressive acquisition of knowledge. This is supported by the use of ‘sticky vocabulary and sticky knowledge’ which are displayed on science working walls and subject specific knowledge organisers. Teachers regularly refer to this knowledge and key vocabulary with meanings so that it ‘sticks’. This enables children to readily apply knowledge and vocabulary. Children learn about carefully chosen Famous Scientists within each unit, considering historical breadth, cultural, social, religious, gender and physical equality.
IMPACT
Science learning is loved by teachers and children across school. The successful approach to the teaching of science at The Grove School will result in a fun, engaging, high quality science education, that provides children with the foundations for understanding the world that they can take with them once they complete their primary education.
Assessment at The Grove School uses formal strategies (snowflake and sunshine tasks, quizzes) and informal strategies (use of concept maps, verbal/written outcomes, reflection tasks/presentations, retrieval practice games and activities) and summative tasks.
Formative assessment is used as the main tool for assessing the impact of Science at The Grove School as it allows for misconceptions and gaps to be addressed more immediately rather than building on insecure scientific foundations.
Children at The Grove School will:
- demonstrate a love of science work and an interest in further study and work in this field
- retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science with a real life context.
- be able to question ideas and reflect on knowledge.
- be able to articulate their understanding of scientific concepts and be able to reason scientifically using rich language linked to science.
- demonstrate a high love of mathematical skills through their work, organising, recording and interpreting results.
- work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment.
- achieve age related expectations in Science at the end of their cohort year.
Powerful knowledge will include:
Year 1: Plants, Animals including humans, Everyday Materials, Seasonal changes
Year 2: Living things and their habitats, Plants, Animals including humans, Uses of everyday materials.
Year 3: Plants, Animals including humans, Rocks, Light, Forces and Magnets
Year 4: Living things and their habitats, Animals including humans, States of Matters, Sound, Electricity
Year 5: Living things and their habitats, Animals including humans, Properties and changes of materials, Earth and Space, Forces
Year 6: Living things and their habitats, Animals including humans, Evolution and inheritance, Light, Electricity
This is achieved through FUN, ENGAGING, PROBLEM SOLVING, DISCOVERY activities that have been planned to meet the needs of, challenge and support individuals. Children are encouraged to value and get excited by mistakes, to question and challenge validity and develop a strong Growth Mindset. Children will leave with a vocational understanding of how science impacts on real life and their worlds will be open to a life filled with science!
The document below shows progression in the skills of working scientifically and progression of knowledge. It then continues to lay out on a medium term basis, the prior knowledge, knowledge to be taught and next steps for each topic taught in science and finally working scientifically is divided into terms where there is a real focus for assessment of these skills with vocabulary and understanding being a focus in every term.
FAMOUS SCIENTISTS have been carefully chosen for children to study in each unit of Science. These have been chosen to show equality and breadth of historical eras.