Science
Intent
Science forms an important part of our everyday lives and here at St Teresa’s we aim to: promote your child’s curiosity of the world and universe around them; encourage respect for living organisms and their habitats; provide opportunities to think critically and answer their own questions about their physical environment.
In conjunction with the aims of the national curriculum, our science teaching offers opportunities for the children to:
- ·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
- ·Become equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.
Implementation- How do we teach science?
At St Teresa’s we use the Primary Knowledge Curriculum (PKC) to guide our science teaching and help our students understand the world through a scientific lens.
In our PKC Science curriculum, we aim to provide children with a strong foundation for understanding and exploring the world around them. Through exciting units of work, we cover various topics in biology, chemistry, and physics, going beyond the requirements of the National Curriculum. Along the way, we introduce students to remarkable individuals and influential scientists who have made significant contributions throughout history, showing them that the quest for knowledge has been ongoing for many years and will continue into the future.
Through this incremental knowledge curriculum, our children have multiple opportunities to secure and build on their knowledge and understanding as subject content is revisited at points throughout the curriculum. Our Science lesson design allows opportunities for reviewing material, questioning, sequencing concepts, modelling and stages of practice. This helps children to master the knowledge and concepts whilst building up an extended specialist vocabulary. This incremental approach helps teachers to identify knowledge gaps and look back at previous content if they need to close gaps in knowledge or understanding.
At our school, we encourage children to apply their science knowledge to investigations, where they test theories and seek answers to questions. They develop essential skills such as gathering information, recording and graphing data, and interpreting findings. These skills can be applied to new situations as they progress through the curriculum.
Our science inquiries cover various activities, including observing over time, seeking patterns, identifying and classifying, conducting fair tests, and researching using secondary sources. These inquiries deepen their understanding of science as a discipline, its processes, and methods, distinguishing it from other subjects. Students also gain an understanding of the purpose and relevance of science in both present and future contexts.
Impact- How is progress shown?
As pupils progress through our school, they will understand the relevance of what they have learnt in science in relation to the world around them. Children will have an enjoyment of science and will be able to discuss what they have learnt and how they have gone about their learning with confidence. Furthermore, they will begin to understand the important role that science plays in the sustainability of life on earth. Progress will be clearly seen through looking at children’s books as well as through positive data increases using the school’s data tracker.
Our goal at St Teresa’s Primary School is to prepare our children for their next step in secondary education with a sense of wonder, enthusiasm, and a thirst for knowledge and exploration.
Cleaner Air 4 Schools project - results
As part of the Cleaner Air 4 Schools project, Year 5 learnt about the different types of pollution in the air and where it comes from. Then they conducted a study to measure the amount of pollution at St Teresa’s School by placing diffusion tubes and measuring the amount of lichen spotted around the school.
They fed back their results and learning to the whole school. Year 5 and St Teresa’s School hope to reduce the pollution in our local area by walking, cycling, scootering or biking to school whenever possible. We discovered that idling cars (cars not moving but still turned on) increase pollution and therefore we aim to encourage people to switch off their cars. The school's results and children’s learning can be seen using the link below.
Thank you very much
A huge thank you to all the children, parents and carers who have brought something for our school Science resources on our Amazon wish list. Through your kindness and generosity, the school now has three pocket microscopes and several hand held microscopes, which show your children a completely new perspective on everyday objects in their world. They may discover that something they thought was smooth is actually covered in little scratches. Or they may discover that something they thought was round actually has angles and straight edges. We have also been gifted a human anatomy model which will allow children to build their knowledge of the human body through exploration. Finally we also received two books all about women in science which explore how they got into science as a career. These books will not only increase your children’s knowledge of famous scientists but will also show them different career choices as well.
Thank you for your kind generosity in helping our school.
Miss Fisher
Science leader
Science Week
St Teresa’s were pleased to take part in the Royal Society Scientific Book Award for another year. The Eco Warriors read the six books and evaluated them on interest, ease of read, and look before picking a winner. We voted for our favourite, which was ‘I Am a Book. I Am a Portal to the Universe’ by Stefanie Posavec and Miriam Quick
Y6 Protecting trees and counting the number of cars in our area
Y5 Pollution Monitoring
