Science Curriculum Intent:

Science develops children’s problem-solving and critical thinking skills which will enable them to succeed in school and beyond, regardless of the pathway that they choose. A sound foundation of scientific knowledge gives children the opportunity to experience a sense of awe, wonder and curiosity about the world around them while recognizing the power of rational explanation. In addition, science can engender a sense of respect for all living things and an understanding of the effects of our actions on the environment.

Children will explore scientific methods and concepts as outlined in the National Curriculum 2014 within the three main scientific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

Mount Pleasant Lane School is committed to providing an ambitious, broad, balanced and inspiring science curriculum for all pupils, including those with special educational needs or disabilities.

Thinking like a scientist:

With the concept of ‘working scientifically’ at its core, children will develop the skills of questioning, testing and drawing conclusions. As they move up through the school, they will be encouraged to evaluate their work, assessing the reliability of results and suggesting extensions. The main focus is on the key features of scientific enquiry skills, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions. These types of scientific enquiry should include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. Children will be given the opportunity to explore by creating their own questions, leading them, by the end of KS2, to select the most appropriate investigative inquiry to answer their own question.

Science Curriculum Implementation:

Science is taught weekly at MPL using the framework of the Developing Experts website. A principle of each lesson is that it builds on prior learning; this makes it easier to cognitively process, helping to accelerate new learning as children integrate prior understanding and build detailed schemata of learning both within and across subjects.

Each unit begins with a vocabulary introduction which focuses on key scientific language which will be relevant to the lesson. Children are encouraged to use this vocabulary both during and subsequent to the lesson.

Each lesson will contain elements of developing the children’s substantive knowledge (subject knowledge) and disciplinary knowledge (knowing how to collect, use, interpret, understand and evaluate the evidence from scientific processes). Both substantive and disciplinary knowledge are taught explicitly. This ensures that children become aware of the thinking and development of working scientifically and are increasingly equipped to design and critically evaluate their own investigations.

Science Curriculum Impact:

Successful science will see clear progression of vocabulary and skills (both substantive and disciplinary) throughout a pupil’s time at MPL. Whilst they accumulate scientific knowledge, the children will become confident scientists: hypothesising, making predictions, designing their own enquiries, drawing thoughtful tentative conclusions and critically evaluating their own and others’ work. They will be amazed, surprised and inspired to find out more.