Science

St Mary’s Catholic Infant and Junior Academies work together to create a caring, friendly and faith-centred community, where we seek to realise the full potential of all our family through the living love of Christ. All our work with children and their families, staff, governors, parishioners and the wider community is influenced by our core values:

Compassion, Respect and Resilience.

 

Intent

The purpose of our Arches Curriculum is to ensure that our children are successful in life and learning. The ‘Nine Arches’ Sankey Viaduct in Newton-le-Willows has been the inspiration for our curriculum.  The viaduct was built by George Stephenson between 1828 and 1830 and the bridge, built to let trains cross above the Sankey Canal, has international significance as the world’s earliest major railway viaduct still in use.

 

Our Science curriculum is based on the objectives from the National Curriculum, with the principle focus of developing pupil understanding and confidence in the three areas of Science: biology, chemistry and physics. Through investigation, experimentation, research and vocabulary, our children develop their understanding of how our world is made and works.

From this, we teach to the Arches Principles –

Ambitious – Resilience – Christ at the Heart – Health and Wellbeing – Excellence – Success

 

Ambitious

Our curriculum is designed to show our children that our ambitious curriculum will offer them rewards for the future. Our Science curriculum allows our children to see the excitement and challenges that can be found within the three areas, asking in-depth questions and exploring and investigating through ambitious, high level and thought provoking enquiries, allowing them to develop aspirations for their futures in science beyond their time at St Mary’s, through links to professional sciences and an understanding of science in the workplace.

 

Resilience

With high expectations and a challenging curriculum, we support our children in developing resilience and self-motivation, to overcome barriers in their pursuit of learning and enrichment. In Science, our curriculum teaches our children to develop their resilience through fair testing, and appropriate data collection, research and lines of enquiry. Our children are encouraged to ask questions with confidence and cooperate to get the best successes from their investigations.

 

 

Christ at the heart

Christ at the heart along with our Mission Statement, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” we provide a high-quality education within a creative, stimulating, encouraging and mutually supportive environment where children are enabled to develop the skills they require to become successful in Science, knowing it offers us answers to some of God’s work in our natural world, and helps us to build a connection to the greatness of the gift He has given to us.

  

Health and Wellbeing

The Mental Health and Wellbeing of our children is paramount in both schools and we seek to ensure all of our lessons have enrichment and enjoyment, allowing children to find satisfaction and fun in the challenge. In Science, we explore how our world is made, including our bodies. My recognising that these changes are natural and instinctive, can give children answers to worries or problems they face. We teach them how to live a healthy lifestyle and link with PE and RSHE to ensure our children know how to look after themselves.

 

Excellence

In all things, we strive for excellence both from and for our children, providing them with the best opportunities, with a curriculum sets high expectations for each and every child. In Science, we aim for high levels of enquiry and investigation, providing the foundations for a strong understanding of the world.

 

Successful

We work to help our children to be successful in all areas of school life, developing children who achieve whatever they put their mind to, and developing skills to help them to continue to be successful in the future. Science encourages children to reach for the highest levels of success, and here at St Mary’s we use our Science curriculum to challenge and expand their understanding, building their vocabulary, investigation skills and confidence in questioning what they know.

Through our ‘ambitious’ curriculum driver, we want our children to relish the challenges that being an scientist can bring. We want to ensure that the children have a secure understanding of the subject disciplines: Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

Through the ‘resilience’ curriculum driver, we promote optimism and determination in Science. The Working Scientifically Cycle promotes resilience as children are encouraged to consider variables, value their mistakes. Children are encouraged to be resilient when working through the difference stages of scientific investigations.  Through the ‘resilience’ curriculum driver, we promote optimism and determination in science.

As a Catholic school we place Christ at the centre of all that we do. We integrate Gospel values and the teachings of the Catholic Church into every aspect of learning and teaching in our science teaching.  We aim to provide a Science curriculum that stimulates and excites pupils’ curiosity to explore, discover and investigate the world around them whilst teaching with a regard for the dignity of the human person and our obligation to care for the human needs of one another.

At the Federation of St Mary’s Catholic Schools, we understand that happiness is linked to personal growth, health and development. We ensure our children are happy, healthy individuals. In biology, a huge focus is on wellbeing and looking after your body – physically and mentally. With ‘health and wellbeing’ as a curriculum driver, we give children the confidence to thrive in a diverse, global society and be respectful citizens with British and Christian Values at the core.

Through the ‘excellence’ curriculum principle, we encourage our children to be risk takers, to reason, to analyse and evaluate.  We want our children to be inquisitive and relish challenges. We want our children to research, experiment, plan, test and then evaluate in science built on strong foundations of disciplinary knowledge.

There are regular opportunities to celebrate their successes in Science. We want our pupils to have a clear understanding of the link between achieving well and having goals for the future.

Being a Scientist means that disciplinary and substantive knowledge complement each other harmoniously. Before every unit of work, we ensure all children are aware of what ‘being a biologist’, ‘chemist’ and ‘physicist’ entails.  

Through disciplinary literacy, all children read like scientists: reading graphs, tables, research, texts linked to science. Reading is the ‘beating heart’ of our science curriculum. 

Implementation

All of our children will have consistent access to a broad, balanced and high-quality science curriculum which will: 

provide the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught 

essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will 

behave, and analyse causes.

The 2014 National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all children: 

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. 
• We understand that it is important for lessons to have a skills-based focus, built on a foundation of supporting knowledge.

We encourage children to be inquisitive throughout their time at school and beyond. The Science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills. We ensure that the Working Scientifically skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at the school so that they can apply their knowledge of science when using equipment, conducting experiments, building arguments and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings.  

 

VALUED - We value vocabulary in Science and in everything we do.

IDENTFIED - Science vocabulary is identified by the Science subject leader and is explicitly planned for.

TAUGHT - Vocabulary is explicitly taught in every lesson. Our Knowledge Organisers are used as a teaching tool for key Science focused vocabulary and the Science medium term plans include additional vocabulary to be taught.

APPLIED - Once vocabulary is taught, it is applied. Children apply their vocabulary in their speaking and listening, writing and assessment outcomes in Science.

LEARNED - Vocabulary is revisited and relearned. Vocabulary sticks in the children’s long-term memory. Lesson by lesson, year by year, children revisit and relearn key Science vocabulary.

Through an ‘explosion of experiences’, our youngest scientists are exposed to the foundations of their understanding of the world learning. Carefully planned understanding of the world experiences are provided for our children. High quality lessons, stories and rhymes and continuous provision in EYFS provides the building blocks for our St Mary’s scientists. Knowledge and understanding of the world vocabulary is planned for and staff ensure children are exposed to the correct terminology when exploring experiences that have understanding of the world science related links. Staff are role models in demonstrating scientific vocabulary and this is further enhanced in our excellent provision. The foundations of understanding of the world learning in EYFS is linked to Year 1 and beyond. 

Developing a strong grounding in scientific skills and knowledge is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel scientifically. Children should be able to start to think scientifically, asking questions and exploring the world around. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to explore, experience and investigate.  Children will begin to develop the foundations to secure a base of science knowledge and vocabulary. Through exciting and stimulating themes which engage the children’s interest the EYFS science (KUW) curriculum provides rich opportunities for children to develop their curiosity and skills across all areas of biology, physics and chemistry in a fun way. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in science form the beginning of their school journey.

 

Both our staff and children are enthusiastic about Science. Through ongoing CPD, we strive to ensure our teachers have expert knowledge of the science they teach. Our pedagogy is firmly based upon our curriculum intent of embedding concepts into long-term memory so that they can be recalled, to ensure substantive and disciplinary knowledge and skills can be applied fluently. 

The Federation of St Mary’s Catholic School’s model ensures that lessons are effectively sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards defined end points.  

We firmly believe that all children should have full access, including those with additional needs, to our Science curriculum therefore lessons are scaffolded where appropriate in order to meet the needs of all our children.    

 

We understand that we may not see the true impact of our Science curriculum on our children as our science curriculum is just the beginning of a lifetime of learning. 

Our well-constructed and well-taught science curriculum leads to great outcomes. Our results are a reflection of what our children have learnt. At The Federation of St Mary’s Catholic Schools, our philosophy is that broad and balanced leads to great outcomes and meeting end points at the end of each key stage. National assessments are useful indicators of the outcomes our children achieve.  

We ensure all groups of children are given the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. We strive to ensure that our children are equipped with the skills (through a growth mindset approach) to fluently be able to retrieve key facts from their semantic memory. 

The quality of our children’s work, at every stage, is of a high standard. All learning is built towards an end point and at each stage of their education, we prepare our children for the next stage. 

The impact of The Federation of St Mary’s Catholic Schools science curriculum is measured through the following: 

• Work is assessed at the end of each lesson and at the end of each sequence
• Pupil voice 
• Progress evident in children’s books and record of experiences 
• Seeking views of parents where appropriate