Science

At Rise Park, we aim for the children to develop a sense of awe and wonder about themselves, the world around them and beyond, through questioning and investigations and using appropriate scientific vocabulary to describe their discoveries.  In order to achieve this, we follow The National Curriculum for England and Wales.

This clearly outlines the expectations for teaching and learning in science for KS 1 and 2.  Learning objectives are given and non-statutory guidance provides ideas for possible activities and investigations the children could use.  Expectations in science are clearly outlined.

Display

Each class should have a science display including: a question mountain, key vocabulary, useful prompts, questions, children’s work and how to carry out an experiment. These are interactive displays that supplement the weekly teaching of Science.

 

Books

Wherever possible, Science is taught weekly and recorded as appropriate. Learning can be presented in any number of ways – photos, diagrams, writing, sheets and learning in the books matches the planning. There is a method for HOW to carry out an investigation, and should be used across school (adopted appropriately for each year group).

DIRT activities should be included – as and when – to apply skills / further knowledge / address misconceptions. There should be at least one DIRT task each half term.

Cross-curricular links in VIPERS/books that the children study in Shared Reading is made, where possible, and in other areas of the curriculum such as Maths and DT, to ensure Science remains a high priority throughout school.

Investigative Science 

Investigative and practical sessions form an integral part to how science is taught across the school.  We have a set prompt for planning investigations.  Not all investigative work needs to be so formally written in full, for example, a teacher may focus on predictions, but we always follow the same prompt from Year 1 to Year 6 with a view to children being able to plan and carry out an investigation independently.   

Wherever possible children work in pairs or small groups to carry out investigations linked to the Nation Curriculum learning objectives.  Learning is recorded in different ways including diagrams, photographs, tables graphs and written explanations. 

There are a set of Skills Ladders (linked to the non-statutory guidance in the National Curriculum) to develop progression in the children’s investigative skills. 

Assessment

Pre and post assessments are completed for each topic and recorded side-by-side in science books as a comparison between prior knowledge and knowledge learnt throughout the topic.

Retrieval activities are interwoven throughout each unit of work to practise new learning or embed previous knowledge.

The Big Question underpins each unit of unit and is used alongside post-assessments, to give children the opportunity to apply and make links between the knowledge and skills they have learnt.

Opportunities for enrichment

We strive to enrich Science and provide meaningful links for the children. As well as using the school grounds, our local area and community in order to inspires curiosity and learning, we have worked with the Ogden Trust on their ‘beginning with a photograph’ competition. We also book visits that are related to Science including visiting local areas such as Wollaton Hall, linked to fossils and Mary Anning as well as travelling further afield to Magna Science Adventure Centre with Year 5. Links have also been developed with the University of Nottingham who have delivered lessons to our pupils as well as supporting with an after-school Science club.