Science

Intent

At Great Waltham primary school our Intent is to provide the children with the desire to learn about, and investigate the world around them.  By embedding scientific enquiry skills throughout each unit, we aim to give our children the opportunity to ‘Let all that they do be done in love’ by encouraging a sense of curiosity and excitement about their world, as well as promoting respect for living things and learning to care for their environment. 

Implement 

We aim to implement this by following the aims set out in the National Curriculum.  We provide progression through carefully sequenced lessons, offering rich learning opportunities that excite and engage the children, as well as building both their scientific knowledge and their skills. 

Key Stage 1

In Year 1, children start the autumn term with Everyday Materials, linking this learning to the design and technology project Shade and Shelter. In the Human Senses project, they learn about parts of the human body and those associated with the senses. In the spring project Seasonal Changes, they learn broadly about seasonal changes linked to weather, living things and day length. They revisit some of this learning in the following summer term project, Plant Parts. They finish with the project Animal Parts, linking back to their knowledge of body parts and senses and identifying commonalities.

In Year 2, children begin the autumn term with the project Human Survival, learning about the survival needs of humans, before expanding to study animals within their habitats in the project Habitats. Building on learning from Year 1, children learn about the uses of materials in the spring project Uses of Materials and begin to understand changes of materials through simple physical manipulation, such as bending and twisting. The spring Plant Survival project also explores survival, with children observing what plants need to grow and stay healthy. Finally, in the project Animal Survival, children bring together learning from the autumn term, thinking about what animals need to survive.

Lower Key Stage 2

Year 3

In the autumn term, they learn about the skeletal and muscular system linking this learning to other animals, with children identifying similarities and differences. Children also learn about healthy diets alongside the autumn term design and technology project Cook Well, Eat well. In the spring term, properties of materials are revisited in the project Forces and Magnets.  Science learning about rocks and soils is delivered through the geography project Rocks, Relics and Rumbles. In the Plant Nutrition and Reproduction project in the summer term, children identify the plant parts associated with reproduction and water transport. Children finish the year with the project Light and Shadows, where they learn about shadows and reflections, revisiting language from Key Stage 1.

 Year 4

In the autumn term, children learn about the digestive system, again making comparisons to other animals, and the project Sound introduces the concept of sound, with children identifying how sounds are made and travel. They learn and use new vocabulary, such as pitch and volume, and identify properties of materials associated with these concepts. In the spring term project States of Matter, children learn about solids, liquids and gases and their characteristics. They understand how temperature drives change of state and link this learning to the project Misty Mountain, Winding River, in which children learn about the water cycle. Up to this point, children have had many opportunities for grouping and sorting living things. In the spring project Grouping and Classifying, children recognise this as ‘classification’ and explore classification keys. Finally, in the summer term, children study electricity by creating and recording simple circuits in the project Electrical Circuits and Conductors. They also build on their knowledge of the properties of materials, identifying electrical conductors and insulators.

Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5

In the autumn term of Year 5, children broaden their knowledge of forces, including gravity and air and water resistance, in the project Forces and Mechanisms. They revisit learning from design and technology projects, including Making It Move and Moving Mechanisms, to explore various mechanisms and their uses. Their knowledge of gravity supports the autumn term project Earth and Space, so they can understand the forces that shape planets and our solar system. They also develop their understanding of day and night, first explored in the Year 1 project Seasonal Changes. Having learnt that animals and plants produce offspring in earlier projects and studied plant and animal life cycles in Sow, Grow and Farm, children now focus on the human life cycle and sexual reproduction in the spring term project Human Reproduction and Ageing. In the summer term project Properties and Changes of Materials, children revisit much of their prior learning about materials’ properties and learn new properties, including thermal conductivity and solubility. To this point, children have learnt much about reversible changes, such as melting and freezing, but now extend their learning to irreversible changes, including chemical changes.

Year 6

In Year 6, the final body system children learn about is the circulatory system and its role in transporting water, nutrients and gases in the autumn term project Circulatory System. Science learning about classification is delivered through the spring term geography project Frozen Kingdoms. In the spring term, children also build on their knowledge about electrical circuits from Year 4, now learning and recording standard symbols for circuit components and investigating the function of components and the effects of voltage on a circuit in the project Electrical Circuits and Components. In the summer project Light Theory, children recognise that light travels in straight lines from a source or reflector to the eye and explain the shape of shadows. Finally, in the project Evolution and Inheritance, children learn about inheritance and understand why offspring are not identical to their parents. They also learn about natural selection and how this can lead to the evolution of a species.

Impact 

The impact of a well-planned science curriculum assists our children to progress in their understanding of scientific knowledge and enquiry skills from their starting points, as well as helping to prepare them for daily life in an ever-increasing scientific and technology-based world. 

Science Vocabulary Progression

As pupils move through school, they are introduced to new scientific vocabulary within each project that builds on their previous learning. Children begin by learning simple, everyday words and gradually develop a wider range of subject-specific language. This helps them to explain their thinking, ask questions, carry out investigations and communicate their scientific understanding with increasing accuracy.  For example, in Key Stage 1 a child may describe a plant using words such as leaf, root and flower. By Key Stage 2, they are able to use more complex vocabulary such as pollination, fertilisation and dispersal to explain how plants reproduce.

Key knowledge vocabulary for each project is included by each knowledge organiser and both knowledge-based vocabulary and scientific enquiry vocabulary in a glossary for each unit.

Why this matters

A rich scientific vocabulary enables children to:

• Understand new scientific concepts more easily.
• Communicate their ideas clearly and confidently.
• Make connections between different areas of science.
• Access the wider curriculum and future learning.
• Develop confidence as young scientists.

Our curriculum ensures that scientific vocabulary is carefully planned, explicitly taught and regularly revisited so that pupils remember and use it accurately as they progress through the school.