Science
At Red Oak Primary School, we recognise the importance of science in everyday life and are committed to developing our children’s scientific knowledge, skills and understanding of the world around them.
We encourage children’s curiosity by giving them opportunities to explore, question and investigate. Our aim is for every child to see themselves as a scientist and to understand the important role science plays in their daily lives.
Through our science curriculum, children are encouraged to:
- Ask questions and investigate the world around them through a range of scientific enquiries.
- Develop an understanding of scientific concepts and how they relate to real-life.
- Communicate ideas and findings using a variety of methods, including speaking, writing and presenting.
- Use resources and scientific equipment safely and purposefully.
Children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 take part in weekly science lessons that build knowledge and skills progressively across the school. In the Early Years, children begin to explore scientific ideas through play, hands-on experiences and learning about the world around them.
We further enrich our science curriculum through special science events, educational visits and opportunities for parents to share in their children's learning, helping to raise aspirations and develop children's Science Capital.
Implementation
At our school, we strive to foster a love of science by creating a positive and engaging learning environment. We have high expectations for all pupils and aim to develop confident, curious and enthusiastic young scientists.
Our approach to the teaching and learning of science includes:
- Science being taught through carefully planned units of work, delivered with a clear focus on developing both scientific knowledge and scientific enquiry skills.
- Children being given regular opportunities to explore, investigate and solve problems. They are encouraged to ask their own questions, make predictions and plan ways to find answers through scientific enquiry.
- Engaging and practical lessons, using high-quality resources to inspire curiosity and deepen understanding.
- Skilled questioning to challenge thinking, assess understanding and develop scientific vocabulary. Ongoing assessment helps identify and address any gaps in learning, ensuring all children make strong progress.
- New learning building on prior knowledge and skills ensuring clear progression across all year groups.
- Working Scientifically skills embedded throughout the curriculum, enabling children to develop key skills such as observing, questioning, predicting, investigating, recording results and evaluating findings.
- Encouraging children to think critically, communicate their ideas clearly and understand how science helps us to make sense of the world around us.
Impact
Children will leave Red Oak Primary School as curious, confident and enthusiastic learners with a secure understanding of scientific knowledge and skills. They can ask questions, plan and carry out investigations, and use evidence to draw conclusions about the world around them.
Children make good progress throughout their time at school, developing their ability to think critically, solve problems and communicate their scientific understanding effectively. They can apply their learning to real-life situations and recognise the importance of science in everyday life.
Our pupils develop a positive attitude towards science and an awareness of the wide range of careers and opportunities that science can offer. Through engaging learning experiences, educational visits and enrichment activities, children build their Science Capital and leave primary school well prepared for the next stage of their scientific learning.
As a result, our children are equipped with the knowledge, skills and confidence to become lifelong learners who are ready to contribute to an ever-changing world.
At Red Oak Primary School, we are committed to developing and enhancing the quality of science education for all our pupils. We are currently focusing on:
- Promoting hands-on, practical learning experiences that encourage children to investigate, explore and think like scientists.
- Ensuring clear progression in scientific knowledge and skills across all year groups, so that learning builds effectively over time.
- Continuing to develop staff expertise through high-quality professional development and training.
- Strengthening links between science learning at school and at home, helping to raise children's Science Capital and aspirations.
- Encouraging the consistent use of accurate scientific vocabulary to support children's understanding and communication of scientific ideas.
- Celebrating excellence in science education through the successful renewal of our Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM) award for the third time.
EYFS
We teach science in Reception classes as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. As the Reception class is part of the Foundation Stage of the National Curriculum, we relate the scientific aspects of the children’s work to the objectives set out in the Early Learning Goals (ELGs), which underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five. Science makes a significant contribution to developing a child’s knowledge and understanding of the world.
Key Stage 1
The principal focus of science teaching in key stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they notice.
They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways.
Most of the learning about science should be done through the use of first-hand practical experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as books, photographs and videos.
Lower Key Stage 2
The principal focus of science teaching in lower key stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring, talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative and fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write about what they have found out.
Upper Key Stage 2
The principal focus of science teaching in upper key stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. At upper key stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should select the most appropriate ways to answer science questions using different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out comparative and fair tests and finding things out using a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific knowledge and understanding to explain their findings.
Year One
Year Two
Year Three
Year Four
Year Five
Year Six