Elburton Primary School

Curriculum

An Introduction to our Curriculum

Maths

Early Years Foundation Stage

English

Read Write Inc

Science

Religion and Worldviews

Personal, Health, Social and Economic Education (PSHE)

Physical Education

Geography

History

Art and Design

Design and Technology

Music

Modern Foreign Languages

Computing

Science

'Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.'

- Carl Sagan

Intent: Why we teach your child Science and what we teach.

At Elburton Primary School, we believe that a high-quality science education provides children with the foundations for understanding and exploring the world and natural phenomena that occur around them. As teachers of science, we aim to encourage a genuine passion for scientific knowledge and enquiry while harnessing children’s natural excitement and curiosity.

We want our children to be empowered to think creatively, rationally and critically and to be able to hypothesise, test, present and reflect on scientific ideas in light of their own findings or those gained from others.

At Elburton Primary School, we aim to nurture a love for the natural world and promote respect for everything in it, encompassing both the living and non-living elements. We aim to inspire and excite children for future possibilities in the scientific world; we encourage them to be active learners who take ownership of their own learning. “Inspiring today’s children for tomorrow’s world."

Implementation: What our Science curriculum looks like and how we teach it.

Our science curriculum is ambitious and this starts right from Nursery. Using the content from the National Curriculum and the Early Years Framework we have carefully sequenced our science curriculum so children learn in a logical step by step manner.

In science we have carefully considered our macro concepts and our curriculum is sequenced so children’s schemata grows through the connection of new knowledge with previous knowledge.

Science is taught in 6-lesson units, two a term. Science is taught for two hours each week.

The United Curriculum is sequenced so that meaningful links are made between subjects, and the order of units allows these connections to be made.

The United Curriculum for Science has been adapted for Elburton Primary School by considering the context of our pupils and the community.

For example:

Children learn about habitats, ecosystems, species (both plant and animal) and nature reserves that are found in our local area. This is incorporated into all units where the natural world is studied to include Y1: Plants, Year 1: Animals, Year 2: Living things and their habitats, Year 3: Plants, Year 4: Classifying organisms, and Year 6: Further classification.
Children learn about materials that are sourced in our local area and industries that make products from these materials locally in Year 1: Everyday materials, to make objects and Year 2: Uses of everyday materials.
Children look at pictures of local rock formations, rock types and fossils found locally in Year 3: Rocks.
Children learn about local sustainability initiatives such as recycling facilities in Year 2: Everyday materials and examples of renewable energy found locally in Year 6: Electricity.
Children learn about extreme weather observed in our local area in Year 1: Seasonal changes.
Children learn about foods that are grown in the local area in Year 2: Plant Growth.

The working scientifically objectives are embedded throughout our science teaching and are not taught discreetly. We use clear symbols which make this explicit to the children. All children are encouraged to problem solve and apply their knowledge to find out the answer themselves. These working scientifically skills are developed throughout their time at Elburton Primary School and teachers explicitly model thought processes and the use of a greater range of scientific equipment as the children move through the key stages.

Impact: How children show that they know and remember more?

The careful sequencing of the curriculum – and how concepts are gradually built over time – is the progression model. If pupils are keeping up with the curriculum, they are making progress. Formative assessment is prioritised and is focused on whether pupils are keeping up with the curriculum.

In general, this is done through:

Questioning in lessons. Teachers check understanding so they can fill gaps and address misconceptions as required.
Pupil conferencing with books. Subject leads and SLT talk to pupils about what they have learnt – both substantive and disciplinary knowledge – and how this connects to the vertical concepts that they have been developing in previous years and other subjects.
Pre-learning quizzes at the start of each unit. These assess pupils’ understanding of the prior knowledge that is required to access the new content in the unit. These are used to identify gaps to be filled prior to teaching the new unit.
Post-learning quizzes at the end of each unit. These give teachers an understanding of the knowledge that pupils can recall at the end of the unit, and can be used to identify any remaining gaps to be filled. These can be general simple recall questions.

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How you can help your child at home:

Why not visit the science museum – it is free of charge and has a great range of exhibits to excite your children and develop their scientific curiosity.
BBC bitesize has a great range of resources to support science – you can find KS2 resources here and KS1 resources here.
Go on walks with your child and encourage them to ask questions which might develop their scientific knowledge – some questions you could ask include: Why do you think the trees have no leaves at this time of the year? How can we keep our plants alive? What could we cook together to make a healthy dinner? How do the lights in our house get electricity?
STEM has a range of home activities which you can find here.