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Fox Hill
Primary School
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Science
Science Vision and Principles at Fox Hill
Science At Fox Hill
Intent
At Fox Hill, we encourage our pupils to be curious and to have a desire for finding out why things happen in the way they do. We aim to inspire our children to be aspirational for their future and our science curriculum is designed to develop future scientists, chemists and physicists. Through our Science lessons, children are inspired to ask scientific questions and to investigate ways to answer those questions. They begin to appreciate the way in which science will affect the future on a personal, national and global scale.
Our curriculum follows the National Curriculum Science National Curriculum Programmes of Study for KS1 and KS2 and we use Developing Experts to deliver our lessons.
At Fox Hill Primary School:
- All staff use careful planning, sequencing and teaching of the Science curriculum to encourage a child’s natural curiosity for the world around them.
- We encourage children to be curious, asking questions and develop the confidence and self-belief required to answer these questions through an enquiry based approach.
- Where possible, Science lessons are linked to our existing topics throughout the year in addition to enrichment opportunities provided to enhance learning that takes place.
- By the end of each Key Stage, we expect children to have met the objectives set out in the National Curriculum. A progression of scientific knowledge and skills is taught throughout a child’s time at Fox Hill, preparing them for the next step in their education.
Implementation
Science at Fox Hill is taught through practical lessons wherever possible, developing the skills of working scientifically and enquiry-based learning, supported by subject specific knowledge and vocabulary, all of which become increasingly challenging as pupil progress through the school. We also celebrate National Science Week every year, with a whole-school program of Science assemblies and activities - the children become immersed in Science for the week and have responded with undeniable enthusiasm to the experiments we have carried out.
What might you typically see?
- All children will develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through a balance of practical activities and knowledge-based lessons. The concepts required will be taught in small steps as detailed in progression maps.
- All children will develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through the five different types of enquiries (research using secondary sources; observation over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; and comparative and fair testing) that help them answer scientific questions about the world around them.
- Teachers plan and deliver lessons to ensure that children are equipped with scientific knowledge and skills required to understand the uses and implication of Science today and for the future.
- Enrichment opportunities (whole school Science Week, educational visits, participation in national competitions and also visitors) help to develop children’s Science capital and aim to offer aspirational experiences.
Impact
- All ideas are valued and children are encouraged to use skills such as predicting and reasoning to help deepen their scientific understanding.
- Children have confidence and competence in the full range of practical skills.
- Scientific vocabulary is confidently used by all.
- Children can make links to topics and real-life encounters with hands-on experiments, including taking informed risks.
- We aspire for all children to achieve well, produce good quality work (including verbal explanations, solving challenging problems and reporting scientific findings) and be ready for the next stage in their education.
- Impact can be seen in high levels of engagement from the children during lessons, progress in books and pupil voice.
Subject Leader: Mrs Filisetti
As Science lead at Fox Hill, my role is to lead, develop and support Science across the school, to ensure all teachers have the subject knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver interesting and challenging lessons. This high quality teaching enables children to experience invaluable science opportunities.
I feel it is essential that children understand the relevance of science to the wider world and their own experiences. Where possible, Science is linked to other curriculum areas to demonstrate links across the subject areas but still retaining its importance as a core subject.
Early Years Foundation Stage
We teach Science in EYFS as an integral part of the topic work covered during the year. Ongoing scientific experiences and opportunities are planned from the objectives set out in the Early Years Framework, which underpin the curriculum planning for children age 3 - 5. Our science curriculum ensures the children develop early scientific ideas and processes through hands on activities, practical exploration and outdoor experiences.
Science from Year 1 - Year 6
(Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development in Science: Kindness/social responsibility, Curiosity, Self-belief, Pride)
SCIENCE CURRICULUM ACROSS FOX HILL SCHOOL | ||||||
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 (also National Science Week) | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 1
| Seasonal Changes (Summer/Autumn focus) *observe changes across the four seasons *observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies. | Animals, including humans *identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds & mammals *identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores & omnivores *describe/ compare structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals,incl pets) *identify, name, draw, label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense | Plants *identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees *identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including trees
| Seasonal Changes (Winter->Spring focus) *observe changes across the four seasons *observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies.
| Seasonal Changes (Summer focus) *observe changes across the four seasons *observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies. Everyday Materials *distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made *identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock *describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials *compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties | |
Year 2
| Living things and their habitats *explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive *identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other *identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro-habitats *describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.
| Animals, including humans *notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults *find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) *describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.
| Plants *observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants *find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy. | Use of Everyday materials *identify and compare the suitability of a variety of everyday materials, including wood, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses *find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching | ||
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 3 | Plants *identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem, leaves and flowers *explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant *investigate the way in which water is transported within plants *explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal. | Rocks *compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties *describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock *recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter. | Animals, including humans *identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat *identify that humans and some animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement | Light *recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light *notice that light is reflected from surfaces *recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes *recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object *find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change. | Forces and Magnets *compare how things move on different surfaces *some forces need contact between two objects , but magnetic forces can act at a distance *magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others *compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials. *magnets have two poles * predict whether two magnets will attract or repel | |
Year 4 | Animals, including humans *describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans *identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
| Animals, including humans *construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.
| All living Things *recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways *explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment *recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
| States of Matter *compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases * observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C) * identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature
| Electricity *identify electrical appliances *construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying/naming its basic parts (cells, wires, bulbs, switches,buzzers) *identify if a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on if the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery *recognise that a switch opens/closes a circuit and associate this with if a lamp lights in a simple series circuit *recognise some common conductors and insulators (associate metals with being good conductors.) | Sound *identify how sounds are made, associating them with something vibrating *recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear *find patterns between the pitch of a sound/ features of the object that produced it *find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it *recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases
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| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 5 | Forces *explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object *identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces *recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.
| Earth and Space *describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system *describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth *describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies *use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.
| Animals, including humans *describe the changes as humans develop from birth to old age
| All Living Things *explain the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird *describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals | Properties & Changes of Materials *compare /group everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets *know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution *use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, (through filtering, sieving/ evaporating etc) | Properties&Changes of Materials * give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic *demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes *explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda. |
Year 6 | Evolution&inheritance *recognise that living things have changed over time & that fossils provide info about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago *recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary & are not identical to their parents *identify how animals &plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways & that adaptation may lead to evolution. | All Living Things *describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics &based on similarities& differences, including microorganisms plants& animals *give reasons for classifying plants & animals based on specific characteristics. | Animals including humans *identify & name the main parts of the human circulatory system & explain the functions of the heart, blood vessels & blood *recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function *describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.
| Light *light appears to travel in straight lines *use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye *explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes *use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them | Electricity *associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit *compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches *use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram. | Looking After Our Environment To align with the National Curriculum this unit is delivered to further develop children's working scientific skills. Children explore: the core concepts – what the climate is, how it changes, the difference between a man-made and natural environment and where different types of animals live'.
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| Working Scientifically Programme of Study – statutory requirements |
Year 1 and 2 | During years 1 and 2, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: * asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways * observing closely, using simple equipment * performing simple tests * identifying and classifying * using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions * gathering and recording data to help in answering question |
Year 3 and 4 | During years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: * asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them * setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests * making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers * gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions * recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables * reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions * using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions * identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes * using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings |
Year 5 and 6 | During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content: *planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary * taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate * recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs * using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests * reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations *identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments |