Intent
At St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, we want our children to be naturally curious about the world around them. Our curriculum has been developed by staff to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum. Science teaching at St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.
Implementation
At St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. (see topic planning grid and progress of skills map). Science is taught in our focus curriculum with links to topics, promoting in depth learning. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory. All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. As a Catholic school we believe learning about and respecting the world God created is important.
A cycle of monitoring is in place to ensure clear progression of skills, (book scrutiny, pupil conference and planning reviews). Children’s levels in science are inputted on Target Tracker with gaps identified. This ensures all children have the opportunity to make progress in science. End of year assessment are used to inform the next teacher and assess the children’s working long term memory.
Impact
Our Science curriculum, various workshop, trips and interactions will lead pupils to be enthusiastic Science learners and understand that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. We want to empower our children so they understand they have the capability to change the world. This is evidenced in a range of ways, including pupil voice, their work and their overwhelming enjoyment for science. The children will have enquiring minds and have scientific skills and vocabulary that they will be able to build on in secondary school. Our children will have a caring attitude towards their environment and understand the importance of sustaining God’s world.
