Science

What do our pupils have to say about science?

“Science is when you want to know something, figuring it out using your knowledge and experience, and using it to help others.” – Year 3 pupil 

“Science is exploring things and how they work.” – Year 2 pupil 

“Science is when you test something to rule things out in order to find out new things.” – Year 5 pupil 

At St Nicholas CE Primary School, our science curriculum is delivered through the Developing Experts scheme of work, which has been designed and written by experts and teachers of science. The Developing Experts approach is research informed and rooted in the best evidence for how children learn.  

Our EYFS team ensure strong foundations through different topics such as Ourselves, Space and Minibeasts where pupils come across different scientific concepts such as the human body, planets and life cycles. Our EYFS pupils come to Year 1 ready to ask questions and soak up new knowledge in discrete science lessons.  

Our curriculum covers what students need to know as directed in the 2014 National Curriculum, but also what we feel is ‘neat to know’ such as exploring the work of David Attenborough and Mary Anning. We know our pupils deserve an ambitious curriculum that empowers them to ask questions and equips them with the knowledge and skills that they need to make a difference in the world. We ensure that all children can access our science curriculum through explicit teaching of scientific vocabulary in every lesson, careful use of scaffolds and a rigorous, sequential progression of small steps.  

Our pupils will study units of work that cover biology, physics and chemistry, which will prepare them for science at secondary school. We work closely with an expert secondary science teacher from Bishop Justus, Mr Atherton, who even comes in to deliver some of our lessons.  

We ensure that content is revisited and connected to new learning through ‘Star Scientist’ questions that reactivate prior learning and ensure our pupils are regularly engaging in retrieval activities that require them to remember past learning.  

As well as this, we discuss the working scientifically objectives in every unit so that pupils are aware of them and able to begin identifying when they have been working scientifically whether it’s through setting up simple enquiries, researching or asking relevant questions.

Priorities 23-24

Overarching priority:

• To ensure that children have access to a high-quality science curriculum. 

Priorities for this academic year: 

1. To improve science teaching and learning across the school. 

1. To map out the key knowledge, skills and investigations in each year group to show progression and coherence. 

2. To improve the quality and organisation of science resources to ensure teachers can access them. 

Click here to view the whole-school Progression map for Science.

Click here to view the whole-school Long Term Plan for Science.