St Mark's Eccles C.E. Primary School

Science

Our school vision underpins our science learning, enabling children to grow, share and flourish whilst fostering their natural curiosity about the world around them.  Through this exploration, we encourage our children to "live life in all its fullness" and see the wonders the world has to provide now and in the future.

Intent

Learning in science is planned to fulfil our school vision and develop inspired pupils with enquiring minds.  Teaching meets the requirements of the National Curriculum and through chemistry, biology and physics we provide children with the foundations they need to understand, question and explore the world of science.  Children develop a sense of excitement, interest and desire to find things out.  We teach essential aspects of the knowledge, skills, methods, processes and uses of science to enable children to consider the past, present and future of our world. 

Implementation 

Lessons at St Mark's are planned carefully in line with the National Curriculum and the skills for working scientifically are developed across the year groups.  Key vocabulary is used by adults and children.  Cross-curricular links are made wherever possible, for example through the use of ICT for research, using our maths skills for presenting data and drawing upon our knowledge from, and in, our geography topics. 

Through the progression of skills and our self-developed 'Pilgrim Progress' assessment procedures, children gain both the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage of their learning journey.   This enables us to manage our split classes and build upon science learning through each key stage, from exploring the natural world around them in the EYFS to a developed understanding of scientific concepts in KS1 and KS2.

Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning and reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards.  Our extensive school grounds are the perfect place for many scientific enquiries and children are encouraged to raise questions, plan investigations, carry out practical work and reflect on their findings.  When additional needs are identified, we support all children to access learning and challenge individuals to deepen their understanding.

Impact

Our science curriculum is taught to enable children to confidently use their scientific knowledge and skills.  To assess pupil outcomes, teachers monitor what our children know, understand and can apply throughout each lesson.  We gain an overview of each pupil’s attainment and progress using our 'Pilgrim Progress' documents.

Please see our Curriculum Overview and Progression of Skills below, including our Pilgrim Progress documents.

Pilgim Progress Documents