Kirk Smeaton CE Primary School

Kirk Smeaton CE Primary School

Science Policy

This science policy will be reviewed by the science curriculum leader and the senior management team during staff meeting time in line with the agreed 2 year rotation plan.

Date of last review; January2015

Date for next review of this document; January 2017

1.Our rationale for teaching science

Science stimulates and excites pupils’ curiosity abut phenomena and events in the world around them. It also satisfies this curiosity with knowledge. Because science links direct practical experience with ideas, it can engage learners at many levels. Scientific method is about developing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling. This is a spur to critical and creative thought. Through science, pupils understand how major scientific ideas contribute to technological change- impacting on industry, business and medicine and improving quality of life. Pupils recognise the cultural significance of science and trace its worldwide development. They learn to question and discuss science-based issues that may affect their own lives, the direction of society and the future of the world.

We believe that a broad and balanced science education is the entitlement of all children, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability.

Our aims in teaching science include the following.

Preparing our children for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world.

Fostering concern about, and active care for, our environment.

Helping our children acquire a growing understanding of scientific ideas.

Helping develop and extend our children’s scientific concept of their world.

Developing our children’s understanding of the international and collaborative nature of science.

Attitudes

Encouraging the development of positive attitudes to science.

Building on our children’s natural curiosity and developing a scientific approach to problems.

Encouraging open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and responsibility.

Building our children’s self-confidence to enable them to work independently.

Developing our children’s social skills to work cooperatively with others.

Providing our children with an enjoyable experience of science, so that they will develop a deep and lasting interest and may be motivated to study science further.

Skills

Giving our children an understanding of scientific processes.

Helping our children to acquire practical scientific skills.

Developing the skills of investigation - including observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating.

Developing the use of scientific language, recording and techniques.

Developing the use of ICT in investigating and recording.

Enabling our children to become effective communicators of scientific ideas, facts and data.

2.Our teaching aims

Teaching science (National Curriculum Science Orders or equivalent) in ways that are imaginative, purposeful, well managed and enjoyable.

Giving clear and accurate teacher explanations and offering skilful questioning.

Making links between science and other subjects.

Science is a core subject in the National Curriculum 2014

Pupils will be taught;

• To work scientifically
• Biology; plants, habitats, animals & humans, all living things, evolution & inheritance.
• Chemistry; materials; rocks & fossils, states of matter.
• Physics; light, sound, electricity, forces & magnates, earth & space

Children in the foundation stage - the reception class are taught the science elements of the foundation stage document through the Early-Learning Curriculum: Knowledge and Understanding of the World.

3.How science is structured through the school

Planning for science is a process in which all teachers are involved to ensure that the school gives full coverage of (National Curriculum Science and science in the Foundation stage). Science teaching in the school is about excellence and enjoyment. We adapt and extend the curriculum to match the unique circumstances of our school.

Foundation Stage; Knowledge & Understanding of the world investigate places, objects, materials and living things by using all the senses as appropriate. Encouragement is given to pupils to identify some features and talk about features the child likes or dislikes. Support is given to ask questions, using the question grid, about why things happen and how things work and to look closely at similarities and differences, patterns and change.

Foundation stage, science is taught in the main through continuous provision with planned resources and directed open questions

KS1 teachers at this school teach science during a focused science week.

KS2 teachers at Kirk Smeaton CE (VC) Primary School teach science through a themed approach and often during maths lessons particularly data handling aspects of science.

• Teachers’ notes and pupil task sheets have been adapted to the needs of our children.
• We use ICT widely in science. Children are given the opportunity to practice science skills and enhance their presentation using carefully-chosen software.
• We use ICT for enquiry work, including microscopes with digital cameras, video capture of images and activities, and data logging.
• Other resources include selected video and wallchart resources; short video sequences and other teaching resources have been networked for interactive-whiteboard use. RM graph package.
• We actively teach science skills, and reinforce learning with selected enquiry simulations.
• We encourage children to ask and answer their own questions as far as practicable.
• We use homework to support school and class activities. This relates to the school’s overall homework policy but is often presented in a ‘Learning Log’ format.
• We use cross-curricula links to science with, for example, design and technology and maths.

5.Equal opportunities in science

Science is taught within the guidelines of the school’s inclusion policy.

• We ensure that all our children have the opportunity to gain science knowledge and understanding regardless of gender, race, class, physical or intellectual ability.
• Our expectations do not limit pupil achievement and assessment does not involve cultural, social, linguistic or gender bias.
• We aim to teach science in a broad global and historical context, using the widest possible perspective and including the contributions of people of many different backgrounds.
• We value science as a vehicle for the development of language skills, and we encourage our children to talk constructively about their science experiences.
• We recognise the particular importance of first-hand experience for motivating children with learning difficulties.
• We recognise that science may strongly engage our gifted and talented children, and we aim to challenge and extend them.
• We exploit science’s special contribution to children’s developing creativity; we develop this by asking and encouraging challenging questions and encouraging original thinking.

6.Assessment and recording in science

We use assessment to inform and develop our teaching.

• Themes commonly begin with an assessment of what children already know.
• We assess for learning (AfL). Children are involved in the process of self-improvement, recognising their achievements and acknowledging where they could improve this is recorded in the their ‘Science Passport’. The outcomes for the Science Passport are taken from Chris Quigley’s ‘Essential Curriculum’.
• We mark each piece of work positively, making it clear verbally, or on paper, where the work is good, and how it could be further improved. Assessment records are reviewed annually.
• We have a tracking system to follow and accelerate children’s progress. The school science coordinator monitors progress through the school by sampling children’s work at regular intervals.
• The school makes continuous assessment of children’s work, much of which is informal. This assessment is used to inform teaching throughout the school.
• The Y2 teachers assess children’s level of attainment at the end of the KS1 programme of study. This teacher assessment is based on assessment records and work samples.
• From 2014 Assessing Pupil Progress is integrated into the individual ‘Science Passport’ system.
• All children take Optional National Assessments in SATs in Y6.
• Reports to parents are made verbally each term, and written once a year, describing each child’s attitude to science, his/her progress in scientific enquiry and understanding of the content of science.

Health & Safety

• Risk assessments will be carried out in science for scientific tests. A science risk assessment form is used and for guidance there is a copy of ‘Be Safe’ published by ASE Education

Assessment of Science Name……………………………………………………………………………………………

Essential Learning Objectives / Milestone 1 / Emerging / Expected / Milestone 2
To work scientifically / • Ask simple questions.
• Observe closely, using simple equipment.
• Perform simple tests.
• Identify and classify.
• Use observations and ideas to suggest answers toquestions.
• Gather and record data to help in answeringquestions.
Biology / To understand plants / • Identify and name a variety of common plants, includinggarden plants, wild plants and trees and those classified asdeciduous and evergreen.
• Identify and describe the basic structure of a variety ofcommon flowering plants, including roots, stem/trunk, leavesand flowers.
• Observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into matureplants.
• Find out and describe how plants need water, light and asuitable temperature to grow and stay healthy
To understand animals and humans / • Identify and name a variety of common animals that are birds,fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and invertebrates.
• Identify and name a variety of common animals that arecarnivores, herbivores and omnivores.
• Describe and compare the structure of a variety of commonanimals (birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals andinvertebrates, including pets).
• Identify name, draw and label the basic parts of the human bodyand say which part of the body is associated with each sense.
• Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring whichgrow into adults.
• Investigate and describe the basic needs of animals, includinghumans, for survival (water, food and air).
• Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating theright amounts of different types of food and hygiene.
To investigate living things / • Explore and compare the differencesbetween things that are living, that aredead and that have never been alive.
• Identify that most living things livein habitats to which they are suitedand describe how different habitatsprovide for the basic needs ofdifferent kinds of animals and plantsand how they depend on each other.
To understand evolution and inheritance / • Identify how humans resemble theirparents in many features.
Chemistry / To investigate materials / • Distinguish between an object and the materialfrom which it is made.
• Identify and name a variety of everydaymaterials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal,water and rock
• Describe the simple physical properties of avariety of everyday materials.
• Compare and group together a variety ofeveryday materials on the basis of their simplephysical properties.
• Find out how the shapes of solid objects madefrom some materials can be changed bysquashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
• Identify and compare the uses of a variety ofeveryday materials, including wood, metal, plastic,glass, brick/rock, and paper/cardboard.
Physics / To understand movement, forces and magnets / • Notice and describe how things move, usingsimple comparisons such as faster and slower.
• Compare how different things move.
• Observe the apparent movement of the Sunduring the day.
• Observe changes across the four seasons.
• Observe and describe weather associatedwith the seasons and how day length varies
To understand light and seeing / • Observe and name a variety ofsources of light, including electriclights, flames and the Sun,explaining that we see thingsbecause light travels from them toour eyes.
To investigate sound and hearing / • Observe and name a variety ofsources of sound, noticing that wehear with our ears.
To understand electrical circuits / • Identify common appliances thatrun on electricity.
• Construct a simple series electricalcircuit.
To understand the Earth’s movements in space. / • Observe the apparent movementof the Sun during the day.
• Observe changes across the fourseasons.
• Observe and describe weatherassociated with the seasons andhow day length varies.

Assessment of Science Name……………………………………………………………………………………………

Essential Learning Objectives / Milestone 2 / Emerging / Expected / Milestone 3
To work scientifically / • Ask relevant questions.
• Set up simple practical enquiries and comparativeand fair tests.
• Make accurate measurements using standard units,using a range of equipment, e.g. thermometers anddata loggers.
• Gather, record, classify and present data in a varietyof ways to help in answering questions.
• Record findings using simple scientific language,drawings, labelled diagrams, bar charts and tables.
• Report on findings from enquiries, including oraland written explanations, displays or presentationsof results and conclusions.
• Use results to draw simple conclusions and suggestimprovements, new questions and predictions forsetting up further tests.
• Identify differences, similarities or changes relatedto simple, scientific ideas and processes.
• Use straightforward, scientific evidence to answerquestions or to support their findings
• Report on findings from enquiries, including oraland written explanations, displays or presentationsof results and conclusions.
• Use results to draw simple conclusions and suggestimprovements, new questions and predictions forsetting up further tests.
• Identify differences, similarities or changes relatedto simple, scientific ideas and processes.
• Use straightforward, scientific evidence to answerquestions or to support their findings.
Biology / To understand plants / • Identify and describe the functions of differentparts of flowering plants: roots, stem, leaves andflowers.
• Explore the requirements of plants for life andgrowth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, androom to grow) and how they vary from plant toplant.
• Investigate the way in which water is transportedwithin plants.
• Explore the role of flowers in the life cycle offlowering plants, including pollination, seedformation and seed dispersal.
To understand animals and humans / • Identify that animals, including humans, need theright types and amounts of nutrition, that theycannot make their own food and they get nutritionfrom what they eat.
• Describe the ways in which nutrients and water aretransported within animals, including humans.
• Identify that humans and some animals haveskeletons and muscles for support, protectionand movement.
• Describe the simple functions of the basic parts ofthe digestive system in humans.
• Identify the different types of teeth in humansand their simple functions.
To investigate living things / • Identify and name a variety of living things (plants andanimals) in the local and wider environment, usingclassification keys to assign them to groups.
• Give reasons for classifying plants and animals based onspecific characteristics.
• Recognise that environments are constantly changingand that this can sometimes pose dangers to specifichabitats.
To understand evolution and inheritance / • Identify how plants and animals, including humans,resemble their parents in many features.
• Recognise that living things have changed over timeand that fossils provide information about living thingsthat inhabited the Earth millions of years ago.
Chemistry / • Identify how animals and plants are suited to and adaptto their environment in different ways.
To investigate materials / • Compare and group together different kinds ofrocks on the basis of their simple, physicalproperties.
• Relate the simple physical properties of some rocksto their formation (igneous or sedimentary).
• Describe in simple terms how fossils are formedwhen things that have lived are trapped withinsedimentary rock.
• Compare and group materials together, accordingto whether they are solids, liquids or gases.
• Observe that some materials change state whenthey are heated or cooled, and measure thetemperature at which this happens in degreesCelsius (°C), building on their teaching inmathematics.
• Identify the part played by evaporation andcondensation in the water cycle and associate therate of evaporation with temperature
Physics / To understand movement, forces and magnets / • Notice that some forces need contact betweentwo objects and some forces act at a distance.
• Observe how magnets attract or repel each otherand attract some materials and not others.
• Compare and group together a variety of everydaymaterials on the basis of whether they areattracted to a magnet and identify some magneticmaterials.
To understand light and seeing / • Notice that light is reflected from surfaces.
• Associate shadows with a light source beingblocked by something; find patterns that determinethe size of shadows.
To investigate sound and hearing / • Identify how sounds are made, associating some ofthem with something vibrating.
• Recognise that sounds get fainter as the distancefrom the sound’s source increases.
To understand electrical circuits / • Identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simpleseries circuit based on whether or not the lamp ispart of a complete loop with a battery.
• Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuitand associate this with whether or not a lamp lightsin a simple series circuit.
• Recognise some common conductors andinsulators and associate metals with being goodconductors.
To understand the Earth’s movements in space. / • Describe the movement of the Earth relative tothe Sun in the solar system.
• Describe the movement of the Moon relative tothe Earth.

Assessment of Science Name……………………………………………………………………………………………

Essential Learning Objectives / Milestone 3 / Emerging / Expected / Exceeding
To work scientifically / • Plan enquiries, including recognising andcontrolling variables where necessary.
• Use appropriate techniques, apparatus, andmaterials during fieldwork and laboratory work.
• Take measurements, using a range of scientificequipment, with increasing accuracy andprecision.
• Record data and results of increasingcomplexity using scientific diagrams and labels,classification keys, tables, bar and line graphs,and models.
• Report findings from enquiries, including oraland written explanations of results,explanations involving causal relationships, andconclusions.
• Present findings in written form, displays andother presentations.
• Use test results to make predictions to set upfurther comparative and fair tests.
• Use simple models to describe scientific ideas,identifying scientific evidence that has beenused to support or refute ideas or arguments.
Biology / To understand plants / • Relate knowledge of plants to studies of evolution and inheritance.
• Relate knowledge of plants to studies of all living things
To understand animals and humans / • Identify and name the main partsof the human circulatory system,and explain the functions of theheart, blood vessels and blood(including the pulse and clotting).
• Describe the life cycles common to a variety ofanimals, including humans (birth, growth, development,reproduction, death), and to a variety of plants(growth, reproduction and death).
• Explain the classification of living things into broadgroups according to common, observablecharacteristics and based on similarities anddifferences, including plants, animals andmicro-organisms.
• Describe the life process of reproduction in some plantsand animals.
• Describe the changes as humans develop from birth toold age.
• Recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs andlifestyle on the way human bodies function
To understand evolution and inheritance / • Recognise that living things produce offspring of thesame kind, but normally offspring vary and are notidentical to their parents.
• Describe how adaptation leads to evolution.
• Recognise how and why the human skeleton haschanged over time, since we separated from otherprimates.
Chemistry / To investigate materials / • Compare and group together everydaymaterials based on evidence from comparativeand fair tests, including their hardness, solubility,conductivity (electrical and thermal), andresponse to magnets.
• Understand how some materials will dissolve inliquid to form a solution and describe how torecover a substance from a solution.
• Use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases todecide how mixtures might be separated,including through filtering, sieving andevaporating.
• Give reasons, based on evidence fromcomparative and fair tests, for the particularuses of everyday materials, including metals,wood and plastic.
• Demonstrate that dissolving, mixing andchanges of state are reversible changes.
• Explain that some changes result in theformation of new materials, and that this kindof change is not usually reversible, includingchanges associated with burning, oxidisationand the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.
Physics / To understand movement, forces and magnets / • Describe magnets as having two poles.
• Predict whether two magnets will attract or repeleach other, depending on which poles are facing.
• Explain that unsupported objects fall towards theEarth because of the force of gravity actingbetween the Earth and the falling object.
• Identify the effect of drag forces, such as airresistance, water resistance and friction that actbetween moving surfaces.
• Describe, in terms of drag forces, why movingobjects that are not driven tend to slow down.
• Understand that force and motion can betransferred through mechanical devices such asgears, pulleys, levers and springs.
To understand light and seeing / • Understand that light appears to travel in straight lines.
• Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain thatobjects are seen because they give out or reflect light intothe eyes.
• Use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain whyshadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them,and to predict the size of shadows when the position of thelight source changes.
To investigate sound and hearing / • Find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features ofthe object that produced it.
• Find patterns between the volume of a sound and thestrength of the vibrations that produced it.
To understand electrical circuits / • Identify and name the basic parts of a simple electricalcircuit, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers.
• Associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzerwith the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit.
• Compare and give reasons for variations in how componentsfunction, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness ofbuzzers and the on/off position of switches.
To understand the Earth’s movements in space. / • Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately sphericalbodies.
• Use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night.

Science Overview