The Science curriculum at Our Lady and St Rose of Lima Primary School has been designed to facilitate our children to become ‘scientists of the future.’ We want our children to understand the wonderful world that God has created and appreciate the difference we can make in protecting it now and for future generations. By equipping them with the essential scientific skills, our curriculum will enable them to not only understand the world but how they can make an impact on it.

Our ‘knowledge rich’ curriculum follows the National Statutory Framework for EYFS and the National Curriculum for years one to six and has been designed to ensure a progression of skills, starting in Nursery and Reception through Understanding of the World and continuing throughout each key stage. It enables all our children, regardless of background or ability, to exceed the requirements of the National Curriculum through challenging the children’s learning within the specific scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

In Early Years, science is explored through ‘Understanding of the World’ where they are taught about plants, space, animals and humans. They explore the different seasons we experience and a range of habitats, looking at which animals they are best suited to and why. During this, the beginning of their scientific journey, they also learn about what a scientist is and some significant scientists and explorers that have made an impact on the world both in the past and today. Introducing them to careers in Science at an early age is an important part of our curriculum as it plants the seed about what they can aspire to be when they are older.

As the children move into Key Stage 1 and again into Key Stage 2, the knowledge gained in EYFS is developed and challenged further. Through teaching progressively, our children are able to build on their knowledge incrementally and are given many opportunities to develop and extend their knowledge and understanding, as specific subject content is revisited at different points throughout the curriculum and their scientific journey. This approach to learning not only allows them to master knowledge and concepts, whilst building and developing an extended specialist vocabulary, but it also provides teachers with the opportunity to identify and close any gaps in knowledge or understanding. For example, through the ‘Growing and Changing’ topic taught in EYFS, the nursery children learn that plants need water and light in order for them to grow. As they move into Reception, this understanding is developed further by introducing Botanists and what would happen to plants if they are not watered or given light. In Key Stage 1, the children recognise that plants also need warmth and space, in addition to water and light, but that seeds and bulbs are able to survive without light because they have a store of energy.

By Key Stage 2, their understanding of the requirements for plant growth develops further by looking at the purpose of each of the parts of a plant and how plants reproduce and pollinate. This is just one example of the progressive nature of the Science curriculum here at St Rose.

A fundamental part of the curriculum is the way in which our children’s knowledge is retained and assessed. The use of knowledge organisers within each topic provides the children with the key vocabulary and learning points that they will encounter during the topic. These are accessed during each lesson and help form part of their prior learning activities. We believe prior learning and regular reassessments are a core element of our curriculum design as they not only provide the children with the tools to facilitate their knowledge recall, but also the teachers with a mechanism to assess their long term retention of key information.
 

Our curriculum has been designed so that all children are able to access the rich knowledge taught throughout each year group. We recognise the need to expose our children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to an extensive range of high quality vocabulary. Each lesson has therefore been designed to introduce and explain new vocabulary, including the origins of the words, to enhance their vocabulary. Investigations provide the opportunity for a more practical approach to learning and tasks are adapted to ensure everyone is able to demonstrate their understanding during each lesson. Our use of technology throughout the curriculum, ensures that our children have immediate access to resources that will assist them with their learning and understanding.
 

We want our children to be excited about the scientific world and the opportunities available to them. Our curriculum offers many opportunities to learn practically as well as theoretically. Units have been designed to teach the necessary substantive knowledge, prior to any investigations, in order for the children to fully understand the elements of an enquiry and make informed observations about the processes they see. It aims to enhance the children’s confidence in working scientifically by developing their skills in observation, questioning, fair testing, prediction, recording, analysing and concluding in a variety of situations. Our school trips provide the children with a variety of different opportunities to experience science personally through a hands on approach. These trips offer them life experiences that not only enhance their learning by bringing the subject to life but also, because of the backgrounds of many of our children, provide them with opportunities to visit and explore places that they would not normally have the opportunity to discover with their families.
 

Throughout our curriculum, our children are taught about significant scientific discoveries that have been made since time began and the impact that these have had for us today. They encounter people who have made significant contributions within the field of Science and the STEM subjects and are encouraged to ask questions to help them develop a sense of curiosity about the world around us. We believe it is vital they learn about scientists whose discoveries have transformed the way we live today so that they may gain a better understanding of the purpose and uses of science both today and in the future. The scientists studied come from a range of diverse backgrounds, including gender and race, so that have role models to inspire them and help them understand that there are no barriers for them as they move through school and into the workplace.

It is our intention that our curriculum will enable all our children to fully appreciate the important role that science plays on the sustainability of the world that God has created for us through their primary education. By the end of Year 6, we want our children to be equipped with a curiosity, passion and a desire for discovery that will enable them to make facilitate them in their secondary education and encourage them to make significant contributions to our world as they grow older.