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Science

Intent 

At Hartsfield, we believe science is integral to understanding the world around us. We aim to deliver a fun, practical and motivating science curriculum that nurtures the innate curiosity of all pupils. We strive to foster an appreciation of nature and a sense of responsibility to protect and nurture our fragile environment.

By closely following the national curriculum and the programmes of study, the children acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group. We aim to help develop science understanding by making links between the learning in the classroom and pupil’s real-life observations and experiences.

We ensure that working scientifically skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at the school so that they can apply their knowledge of science when using equipment, conducting experiments and investigation, being familiar with scientific terminology and, most importantly, to continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings.

All children will be provided with a broad and balanced science curriculum which reflects the equality and diversity policies and practice within our school. We are keen to develop the ‘Science Capital’ of all pupils, ensuring that each child, receives a wide range of positive and enriching science experiences, throughout their time at Hartsfield.  We aim to demonstrate the relevance of science in the wider world, informing pupils of the many diverse, exciting careers that studying science opens up to them. Our teachers strive to personalise the learning and engage pupils by establishing their prior knowledge, interests and experiences and collating information on science expertise within families.

Implementation 

At Hartsfield, the science curriculum covers a range of knowledge and working scientifically skills as set out in the National Curriculum for Science and the Early Years Framework. The knowledge is organised into different Biology, Chemistry and Physics topics, which are taught in half-term blocks.  Most topics are taught in 2-year cycles, so there is an opportunity to re-visit and address any misconceptions before progressing forward. Working scientifically skills are grouped into KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2 and built on across the 3 phases (see separate knowledge and skills progression documents for more detail) To support us in delivering a high quality curriculum, we use material provided by ‘Herts for Learning’. This provides a clear breakdown of the knowledge required for each topic including additional statements to assess those pupils working at greater depth. It also includes working scientifically assessment tasks for each topic in each year group. 

At the beginning of the topic, children are encouraged to share what they already know and what they would like to find out and this helps to make the programme of study responsive to the children’s understanding and interests.  Staff continuously seek to develop inquisitiveness through their lessons, using resources such as Explorify, Concept Cartoons and Big Questions, to encourage creative thinking and discussion.

To help develop the science capital of all pupils, scientists from our community, including parents, are encouraged to visit the school to talk about their jobs and many school trips are science-based.  Extra-curricular science clubs such as Labtots and Nature Citizens are well attended – the latter seeking to address environmental issues in a pro-active way. Children are kept informed of key science events in the wider world during a weekly news assembly.