Science

Creating Brilliant Scientists

SCIENCE VISION AND INTENT

VISION

Excellent science lessons at Cavendish Primary School will create a love of science, enthuse children and make learning fun and memorable. Children will be inspired to be curious, to ask scientific questions, and to be excited about the world around them.  

­INTENT

• Children will experience all five scientific enquiries: observation, testing, research, classifying and identifying and pattern seeking.
• Children will become scientists in the classroom, enabling them to develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science to help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them.
• Children will develop a range of skills through the working scientifically strand of the curriculum: measuring, analysing, presenting and reasoning, and to use a range of equipment accurately and safely through hands on investigations and observations.
• Children will use an increasing scientific vocabulary and language of science as they progress through the school.
• Children will aspire to potential careers in science, through learning about the work of scientists and how they can make a difference to others

Cavendish Science Curriculum

The Science Curriculum at Cavendish Primary School has been carefully sequenced to ensure that knowledge and skills are progressive and ensure that children build on their previous learning all the way from EYFS to Year 6 and beyond. The core curriculum has been built using a variety of highly respected and reliable sources, including, but not limited to, PLAN, Ogden Trust, PSTT, STEM.org and Explorify. The long term plan shows which science topics are being taught by which year groups and when. It is reviewed annually to ensure that it is current and meeting the needs of the cohorts in each year group, and also makes best use of any enrichment opportunities that are available in each term. Each topic is driven by a 'Big Question' and each lesson has it's own question to be answered, driving an enquiry based approach to the curriculum. This year's long term plan is attached in 'files' below. 

For each area of science within the curriculum, there is a whole school progression document that clearly identifies the key learning in each year group. This supports the teachers ability to build on and consolidate prior learning as well as to ensure coverage of the key learning in their year group. As a teaching and learning team, we have also worked hard to create effective medium term plans which prioritise a practical approach to learning and set out key vocabularly, common misconceptions and provide a range of suitable investigations. 

A science curriculum must cover both the substantive and disciplinary knowledge needed for students to understand what it means to be a scientist. As a school we use the SEERIH logos for the five enquiry types: Observation over time, Identification and Classification, Pattern Seeking, Fair and Comparitive Testing, Research. These logos are used from EYFS to Year 6 in planning and classroom materials so that children become familiar with them and understand the difference between them. Our medium term planning ensures that each of these enquiries are carried out a number of times across each year group, with increasing complexity, to ensure that the disciplinary knowledge, the working scientifically skills, are being practised and developed. A small extract of the full document is published below to illustrate. 

Science Enrichment and Science Capital 

Cavendish has a highly diverse student population, both economically and culturally, and the amount of science capital that children have varies significantly. As a school, we want to build science capital and instill a true love of science within our students so that they choose to pursue learning and careers in science in the future. In order to support this vision, we provide numerous enrichment experiences for them during their time at Cavendish. To provide a couple of examples, in EYFS, we work with an ethical chick hatching provider called Eggucation so that our children have first hand knowledge about the lifecycle of chickens, but also have the opportunity to take care of the hatchlings. In Year 1, we have had visits from animal specialists such as The Bird Man, a 'Farmer Time' link to a farmer in Aberdeen, and a trip to Eureka in Halifax. In Year 5 we have had a planetarium set up in the school hall. We believe science should be fun, but more importantly, the learning should be memorable.