At Burstow Primary School, our children are scientists!
Our intent is to give every child a broad and balanced Science curriculum which enables them to confidently explore and discover what is around them, so that they have a deeper understanding of the world we live in.
We want our children to love science. We want them to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to further develop their understanding of Science.
We want our children to remember their science lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the scientific opportunities they are presented with! To achieve this, it involves exciting, practical hands on experiences that encourage curiosity and questioning. Our aim is that these stimulating and challenging experiences help every child secure and extend their scientific knowledge and vocabulary, as well as promoting a love and thirst for learning. Our children know they can be the inventors of tomorrow. They have the potential to be our future doctors, astronauts, nurses, paramedics, researchers, inventors, electricians…to be the Elon Musk or Mary Seacole of tomorrow!
Burstow Primary School Implementation
At Burstow, we have a coherently planned and sequenced curriculum which has been carefully designed and developed with the need of every child at the centre of what we do. Using a Progression of Skills from one year group to the next, teachers are equipped with excellent subject knowledge to ensure children are challenged and extended. We want our children to be methodical, observant, open to possibilities, analytical and adaptable.
We want to equip our children with not only the minimum statutory requirements of the science National Curriculum but to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.
At Burstow, Science topics are taught within each year group in accordance with the National Curriculum.
• Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills.
• Teachers promote enjoyment and foster interest of the scientific disciplines; Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
• Children explore, question, predict, plan, carry out investigations and observations as well as conclude their findings.
• Children present their findings and learning using science specific language, observations and diagrams.
• In order to support children in their ability to ‘know more and remember more’ there are regular opportunities to review the learning taken place in previous topics as well as previous lessons.
• Children take part in a knowledge review at the start of each topic. This explores “What they know,” “What they want to know,” and an end of topic review “What I have learned.”
• To support teaching, teachers access a range of resources.
• Effective use of education visits and visitors are planned, to enrich and enhance the pupil’s learning experiences within the Science curriculum.
• Teachers use highly effective assessment for learning in each lesson to ensure misconceptions are highlighted and addressed.
• Effective modelling by teachers ensures that children are able to achieve their learning intention, with misconceptions addressed within it.
• Through using a range of assessment tools, differentiation is facilitated by teachers, to ensure that each pupil can access the Science curriculum.
• Children are given clear success criteria in order to achieve the learning intention with differing elements of independence.
• Pupils are regularly given the opportunity for self or peer assessment, which will then be used to inform planning, preparation, differentiation and address misconceptions within that lesson, or for the next lesson.
• Children are regularly given practical, hands-on experiments to facilitate learning and explore concepts scientifically.
• Cross-curricular links are planned for, with other subjects such as Maths, English and Computing.
