Science

Our Vision

At Bewsey Lodge, developing the whole child is at the heart of everything we do. Our aim is to develop children who are confident, independent learners with an enquiring mind. We endeavour to provide a learning environment that promotes resilience whilst encouraging scientific enquiry.

Intent

We endeavour to provide a high quality science education that provides children with the foundations they need to recognise the importance of science in every aspect of daily life. In our school, we want our children to appreciate how science has changed the lives of human beings and know that it is vital to the future of the world. All children are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science.

Children will be taught to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. Our curriculum also encourages children to become enquiry based learners, collaborating through researching, investigating and evaluating experiences. 

Children at Bewsey Lodge School will:

• Demonstrate a love of science work and an interest in further study and work in this field

• Retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science with a real life context.

• Be able to question ideas and reflect on knowledge.

• Be able to articulate their understanding of scientific concepts and be able to reason scientifically using rich language linked to science.

• Demonstrate a high love of mathematical skills through their work, organising, recording and interpreting results.

• Work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment
  

Implementation

At Bewsey Lodge School, science is taught weekly. Children are able to build on prior knowledge and link ideas together.  In the EYFS, science is included within the Understanding the World area of learning. As with other learning in Reception, children mainly learn about science through activities such as games and play – Going on an Autumn Walk or Investigating the sense for example. These activities help your child to develop important skills such as observation, prediction and critical thinking.

Science is taught in relation to the 2014 National Curriculum for primary schools in England. Certain topics are repeated across the different year groups, meaning that children may revisit a topic in each year of primary school but with a different focus and with a different focus each time.

For example, the topic ‘animals, including humans’ is examined in throughout every year group, with a clear progression of understanding and knowledge from Reception to Year 6. In Reception and Year 1 this involves looking at the human body, looking at different animal groups and sorting/classifying these animals. By Year 6,  knowledge will have developed into knowing the internal structure of the human body in relation to circulation and classifying living things based on more complex characteristics.

Alongside these areas runs the Working Scientifically side to our Science lessons. This focuses on the development of skills needed to become accurate, careful and confident practical scientists. The children are expected to master certain skills in each year group and there is a very clear progression of these set out for each school to refer to.

For example: In Year 1 a child may have to ask questions, carry out a simple test, record simple data and then try to answer questions. By Year 6, they should be able to plan and carry out a fair test by using equipment accurately and taking exact readings or measurements. They are also expected to be able to draw conclusions from their results and record them using a range of graphs and charts.

progression_of_skills.docx

Impact

The successful approach to the teaching of science at Bewsey Lodge School will result in a fun, engaging, high quality science education, that provides children with the foundations for understanding the world that they can take with them once they complete their primary education.

Formative assessment is used as the main tool for assessing the impact of Science at Bewsey Lodge Primary School. Teachers evidnce from books, give open ended end of unit questions and have conversations with children in assessing the impact of learning. Teachers use a given set of criteria to asessess whether a child is meting, working below or above are related expectations (ARE); a sample of these can be viewed below.

They also use an end of year test to assess how well they have retained and can recall knowledge and if they can use that knowledge to answer questions.

assessment_science_new_june_2023.docx

 Children at Bewsey Lodge School will:

• Demonstrate a love of science work and an interest in further study and work in this field

• Retain knowledge that is pertinent to Science with a real life context.

• Be able to question ideas and reflect on knowledge.

• Be able to articulate their understanding of scientific concepts and be able to reason scientifically using rich language linked to science.

• Demonstrate a high love of mathematical skills through their work, organising, recording and interpreting results.

• Work collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment
  

Science at Bewsey

Nursery

In Nursery, children have been exploring the sense through investigating oranges. The children have smelt the oranges and tasted them too! They also decided to extend their observation by trying to find out how to mix orange paint. They mixed yellow and red paint together and found the colour orange!

As well as that, Nursery have been investigating themselves! They used mirrors to explore their facial features and then looked at X-ray photos to describe what they could see, using a wide range of vocabulary.

Reception                                                

In Reception, the children have been exploring the body. They have been talking about all the different parts of the body labelling one of their friends in class! They have been discussing what they need to do to keep their bodies healthy and took part in some races for exercise. They talked about the need for a balanced diet and how milk is good for their bones! They have also recently started toothbrushing after their dinnertime to help them understand why it is important to brush their teeth.

Alongside this, Reception have also been exploring different pets and how to take care of them. They have been looking after the rabbits, guinea pigs and fishes in our EYFS area and ensuring they are all well fed and looked after.

Year Two

Year Two have been investigating materials! They have been conducting lots of experiments with different materials to find out which was the most absorbent materials. They then decided which material would be best for wellies!

Year Six

In Y5/6 the children have been learning about living things and their habitats and classification. As part of this, they have learnt about microorganisms.

They then carried out an investigation into a harmful microorganism – mould by looking what happens to bread over a period of time.