Science

OUR SCHOOL VISION

Learning together, rooted in God, pupils at St Lawrence Church of England Primary School are easy to distinguish by the personal qualities they present. They are happy, confident, articulate children with a love of learning, who recognise and celebrate their own individuality and that of other members of our community. They are generous, kind and welcoming; they are forgiving and understand justice. With God by their side, they face the world with resilience, integrity and joy.

The school Statement of Intent is at the very heart of everything we do in school. In science, we implement it in a variety of ways including:

• Taking Learning Outdoors. Throughout the year, good use is made of the outdoor classroom and our fantastic wildlife areas, which allow children to develop their resilience and confidence in working practically in science. Children have the opportunity to make a mess and get things wrong in a safe but practical way. 
   
• Ensuring there is a strong focus on working scientifically. Children learn how to carry out their own fair scientific investigations and what to do with the result they achieve. This means that, alongside their subject knowledge, our pupils leave primary school with a scientific and inquisitive mindset and the ability to confidently articulate their opinions, thoughts and feelings about key scientific principles covered in the National Curriculum.
   
• Striving for excellence. We have a significant number of very able children in school and pride ourselves on challenging the able, gifted and talented children to stretch their potential to its maximum.  Children achieve this through extension activities, Gifted and Talented Hubs and participation in exciting STEM activities with cluster schools. These provide children with opportunities to use their understanding and abilities to work as part of a team, whilst also allowing them the opportunity to express their own interests and demonstrate their talents. It also allows for children’s’ strengths inside the classroom to be transferred to something fun and enjoyable outside of it.

As a school, we ensure that the children have opportunities to work Scientifically in all aspects of Science. This is something that each child develops working through school and allows a more independent approach to understanding different aspects of Science. This is also an opportunity to build on skills from lower down school and develop them as they enter Key stage 2. For more inforation about the 5 types of Scientific enquiry and to discover what we use as a school, please visit this website: https://seerih-innovations.org/enquiringscience4all/

As a school we are currently following a number of resources to help and assist with planning, working scientifically and assessment. 

To assist with planning within school, we're currently using https://www.planassessment.com/  website. This website allows staff to access plans for every topic covered in each year group. The plan progression in knowledge is an important resource. This document shows the links between the topics taught in different year groups, so that it's easy to check for teachers that they're covering the correct content for their year group. PLAN Progression in working scientifically skills. These documents will enable you to monitor progression of the working scientifically skills through the school. Finally, it has a breakdown of the 5 types of scientific enquiry with examples of each aspect to give a more in depth explanation. 

As as school, we're also promoting a large emphasis on key vocabulary used in Science. This will be covered both pre and post Science topics to develop a greater understadning and explanations of key vocabulary. Key vocabulary document 

For part of our assessment we're current using our school assessment tool. This allows teachers to be more specific and focus on different elements of working scientifically and evidence this to see who's working at, above and below the expected standards. 

We're also promoting a more independent approach to working scientifically across school and all classes have posters stuck in children's books to demonstrate the language that should be used. These can be found at: https://www.york.ac.uk/ciec/

Year 1 and 2: Working Scientifically

• Using simple equipment to observe closely.
• Asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways.
• Performing simple tests.
• Identifying and classifying.
• Using observation to suggest answers to questions.
• Gathering and recording data to help in answering questions.

Year 3 and 4: Working Scientifically

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

Year 5 and 6: Working Scientifically

• planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
• reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and a degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
• identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments

Here is our school display which is a working wall, to show different classes carrying out the 5 types of enquiry. 

Even though EYFS don't follow the national curriculum, they still undertake a variety of Science lessons and investigations throughout the year based up on the childrens' interests. This is closely linked to the Early Learning Goal of understanding the world. So far this year, the children have looked at exploring space, living things and their habitats and the properities of different materials. Below are some examples of the amazing work they've been doing. 

Below are the national curriculum targets that we follow for Science in each year group. 

Key Stage 1

Year 1: Plants

• Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees.
• Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees.

Year 1: Animals including humans

• Identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
• Identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.
• Describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets)
• Identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.

Year 1: Everyday materials

• distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made
• identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock
• describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials
• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.

Year 1: Seasonal Changes

• observe changes across the 4 seasons
• observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies

Year 2: Living things and their habitats

• explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive
• identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other
• identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats
• describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food

Year 2: Plants

• observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants
• find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy

Year 2: Animals including humans

• notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
• find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
• describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene

Year 2: Use of Everyday Materials

• identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses
• find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.

Lower Key stage 2

Year 3: Plants

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers
• explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant
• investigate the way in which water is transported within plants
• explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal

Year 3: Animals including humans

• identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
• identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement

Year 3: Rocks

• compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties
• describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock
• recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter

Year 3: Light

• recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light
• notice that light is reflected from surfaces
• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
• recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a solid object
• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change

Year 3: Forces and Magnets

• compare how things move on different surfaces
• notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
• observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
• compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
• describe magnets as having 2 poles
• predict whether 2 magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.

Year 4: Living things and their habitats

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things

Year 4: Animals including humans

• describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
• identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey

Year 4: States of matter

• compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
• observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)
• identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Year 4: Sound

• identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
• recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear
• find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
• find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it
• recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases

Year 4: Electricity

• identify common appliances that run on electricity
• construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
• identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
• recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
• recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5: Living things and their habitats

• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
• describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals

Year 5: Animals including humans

• describe the changes as humans develop to old age

Year 5: Properties and changes of materials

• compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets
• know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution
• use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
• give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic
• demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
• explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda

Year 5: Earth and Space

• describe the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the sun in the solar system
• describe the movement of the moon relative to the Earth
• describe the sun, Earth and moon as approximately spherical bodies
• use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky

Year 5: Forces

• explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
• identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces
• recognise that some mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect

Year 6: Living things and their habitats

• describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including micro-organisms, plants and animals
• give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics

Year 6: Animals including humans

• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
• describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans

Year 6: Evolution and Inheritance

• recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
• recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
• identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution

Year 6: Light

• recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye
• explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes
• use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them

Year 6: Electricity

• associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
• compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
• use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.

See the links below for a range of links to children's science websites and articles.

BBC Bitesize

ACS Chemistry for Life

Newsround: Science and Nature

The Science Museum