We are scientists

Intent

At Asquith Primary School, our intent is for our children to access a vocabulary rich, experienced based curriculum, through which they develop the knowledge to question, debate, investigate, discover, interpret, present and challenge scientific matters in their ever-changing world. Through our curriculum drivers, all stakeholders seek to provide a high-quality learning environment and curriculum which facilitates the inquisitive nature of our children and creates a sense of awe and wonder about the world around them. Our broad and balanced curriculum, supplemented by enrichment and extra-curricular activities, encourages our children to make conscious, informed choices throughout their lives, to contribute positively to society, and to have the understanding to interpret their world. Our school community has high percentages of disadvantaged, SEND and EAL children, and therefore leaders ensure that inclusivity and accessibility are prioritised.

We promote wonderful words by:

• Explicitly teaching scientific vocabulary using our scientific glossary within lesson sequences, enabling children to develop a rich scientific vocabulary that helps them express their thoughts, ideas and understanding of the fascinating world around them.
• Developing pupils' oracy skills so that they can communicate their ideas with clarity, confidence and precision, ask thoughtful and probing questions, and effectively present their views and findings on key scientific concepts and issues.

We develop readers for life by:

• Encourage children to read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, broadening their understanding and interpretation of different scientific phenomena while fostering a lifelong curiosity about the scientific world around them.
• Promote scientific learning and nurture curiosity about the world using a diverse range of high-quality texts, sources and accounts.

We provide opportunities by:

• Provide children with hands-on, practical experiences in which they can use their scientific skills to question, debate, investigate, discover, interpret, present, and challenge scientific ideas in their ever-changing world.
• Encourage children to ask questions, apply their scientific knowledge and skills to deepen their understanding, and present their findings and conclusions to others.
• Provide opportunities for children to demonstrate and extend their learning beyond the classroom through science-based trips, STEM ambassadors, Eco Club, and the Forest School curriculum.

We encourage children to dream big by:

• Exploring influential scientists, groundbreaking inventions, and significant scientific discoveries and advancements.
• Exploring the lives and achievements of influential scientists while promoting the belief that anyone can become a scientist.
• Engage, encourage and support all our pupils with good quality teaching, inspiring lessons and adaptations where needed.  
• Exploring scientific careers in the local area and beyond, while encouraging curiosity about science beyond the classroom.

Rooted in our school values:

• Respect – listening carefully to the ideas and opinions of others, valuing different viewpoints, treating equipment and resources with care, respecting the classroom and environment, following safety instructions, taking turns and respecting the findings and results of others even when they differ from our own.
• Responsibility – taking ownership of our learning, respecting resources, working safely with a range of materials, ensuring experiments are fair by controlling variables and recording results honestly and accurately, and respecting the ideas and contributions of others during discussions and practical work.
• Determination – persisting with challenging investigations, trying different approaches when experiments do not work, repeating tests to improve accuracy, staying focused on longer or more difficult tasks, learning from mistakes and feedback, and continuing to work carefully to achieve reliable results.
• Understanding – showing knowledge of key scientific facts and concepts, using appropriate scientific vocabulary to explain ideas, making links between different areas of learning, applying knowledge to new situations, interpreting results and drawing conclusions, recognising patterns in data and observations, asking questions to deepen understanding, and using prior learning to support their explanations and investigations.
• Cooperation – working effectively with others during investigations by sharing resources fairly, listening to and respecting different ideas, taking turns and ensuring everyone has a role, communicating clearly within our group, supporting peers when needed, and collaboratively planning, conducting and evaluating scientific enquiries.
• Honesty – recording and reporting results accurately and truthfully, even when findings are unexpected or do not support our hypothesis, ensuring that data is not altered or misrepresented and that all observations are shared transparently.

Implementation

Our curriculum is centred around encouraging children to question and challenge their interpretations of their world. We are working to implement a child-led approach which facilitates the process of investigation and discovery, with the aim of creating ‘light bulb moments’. When these moments occur, we aim to celebrate the curiosity and scientific working of our children and provide opportunities for children to confidently present and discuss their findings. The process of exploring and investigating and then discovering, presenting and discussing enables our children to know more and remember more.

Our progression framework ensures that all substantive and disciplinary statutory content in the early years’ foundation stage framework and the national curriculum is taught to all children, with adaptations implemented to support children to access scientific content in each unit of learning. Our progression framework ensures that the knowledge, skills and understanding developed in previous years are the starting point for learning and that we have an awareness of the next steps for our children. Therefore, we ensure that learning is sequential and progressive within each year group as well as from EYFS through to year six. Scientific vocabulary and practical scientific skills are incorporated throughout our lesson structure. Our science glossary ensures consistency and encourages children to develop their ability to read, spell, understand and pronounce scientific vocabulary in a progressive structure appropriate to their age range.

Our curriculum is specifically designed to suit the needs of our children at different stages of their education: in EYFS science forms part of our children’s daily provision; in key stage 1 and key stage 2 science is taught in discrete units of work as outlined in the national curriculum. Through our eco-clubs and forest schools programme we aim to use our whole school site to maximise and extend our children’s scientific experiences, knowledge and understanding. 

Impact

Through our intent and implementation, we work to develop children who are independent, resilient and curious scientists. We strive for all our children to know more, remember more, and understand more about the world around them, so that they make conscious, informed choices, contribute positively to society and have the curiosity to explore. Furthermore, having the confidence and knowledge to question, debate, investigate, discover, interpret, present and challenge scientific matters in their ever-changing world.

Assessing our impact

Using formative and summative assessment teachers adapt learning to meet the needs of children. Assessment grids provide clear starting points, enabling teachers to plan appropriately and tailor learning experiences to individual pupils. They also help to identify gaps in understanding so that these can be addressed promptly, ensuring all children make continued progress. Our curriculum framework, alongside our assessment grids, ensures that all statutory content from the National Curriculum is effectively taught and assessed.