SCIENCE AT ORLEANS PRIMARY SCHOOL
Science is a vibrant subject at Orleans Primary School about which we are incredibly passionate. Through high-quality science teaching, we aim to help our pupils understand how major scientific ideas have played a vital role in society. Moreover, we aim to prepare our pupils for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world.
Our curriculum provides a rich variety of topics that cover all the core scientific disciplines and contexts that the children can relate to their everyday lives. Each week the children are posed a key question or context from which they generate their own scientific lines of enquiry. They will then explore this question using a variety of investigative skills, engaging and becoming more familiar with each of the elements of the scientific method as they progress through the school. These include skills such as generating their own lines of enquiry, making predictions, analysing results, observing changes over time, identifying and classifying, collecting results in a variety of ways, drawing conclusions from their observations and evaluating their own method and the reliability of their results.
How is Science taught across Key Stages?
Early Years (Nursery and Reception)
The children at Orleans Primary School follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and with relation to science the focus is on ‘Understanding the World’. Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. Children will explore the world around them, recognise some similarities and differences between the natural world and contrasting environments and understand some important processes and changes, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
KS1 and KS2
The children follow the National Curriculum (2014) covering the areas listed below whilst also focusing on the five areas of working scientifically: pattern seeking, observing over time, identifying and classifying, fair testing and research. Within each academic year, children will study a range of scientific topics.
In both Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2), children are taught Science as a freestanding subject, covering a specific topic each term. Each Science topic is primarily based around one of the three core disciplines (Biology, Physics and Chemistry), with children touching on all three every year. The curriculum map included below shows the Science topics that are currently delivered across the school.
Cross-Curricular links within Science
Each key question that the children investigate is carefully planned to include a range of cross curricular links with core subjects. Children are taught how their mathematical calculation and statistical skills can be used to read, analyse and draw conclusions from their results. There are also regular opportunities for children to improve their literacy skills through reading, writing and spelling key vocabulary.
There are also numerous links made with other foundation subjects that are embedded across each Science topic. For example, in PE lessons there are opportunities for children to both learn about the importance of and emulate a healthy lifestyle.
Science Trips
As a school located in the outskirts of London, we are lucky to have a range of science focused venues and opportunities for practical field work on our doorstep. We’re constantly looking for new and meaningful experiences that will enrich the scientific understanding and investigative skills of the children we teach. Previous trips have included London Zoo, The Science Museum, Marble Hill Park and Bocketts Farm and many more. These are regularly reported on in the Newsletter so do have a look and see what we’ve been getting up to.
Science at Home
Science is a subject that relates to our understanding of the processes of the world around us. As such, it is one of the most relevant subjects that children can engage with at home. At Orleans Primary we actively encourage children to continue their investigations at home, and even try some new ones. Below are some websites you might find useful to help your child learn Science at home
- Primary Science STEM at Home (sfi.ie)
- The Artful Parent The Best Kids Science Experiments to Try at Home (artfulparent.com)
- National Geographic Kids National Geographic Kids (natgeokids.com)
- Science Activities and Experiments Kindergarten Science Activities for Kids | Education.com
- The Science Museum Home | Science Museum