Quick Links

Useful Links Open/Close

Home page

Science Images - Free Download on Freepik

Welcome to Science at St Patrick's!

What's our Story?

We provide a broad and balanced Science curriculum that covers the three main areas of Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The curriculum is well-planned and sequenced, building on what pupils already know and can do, addressing misconceptions and providing clear next steps for learning. 

At St. Patrick's, we want our children to be naturally curious about the world around them. Our aim for our children is to be able to leave our school with the following skills:

Asking and answering questions

Hypothesising

Problem solving

Building resilience

Recognising diversity

Developing oracy and an ability to communicate new ideas

Team work

Apply scientific concepts to the wider world

Appreciating our wonderful world created by God

Ask Questions to Improve Your Leadership

Our curriculum has been developed by staff to ensure full coverage of the National Curriculum and to foster a sense of wonder about natural phenomena.

 

We are committed to providing a stimulating, engaging and challenging learning environment. Throughout our school, children are encouraged to develop and use a range of working scientifically skills:

Classifying and Grouping

Pattern Seeking

Observing over Time

Comparative and Fair Testing

Research and Secondary Sources

We promote and celebrate these skills.

 

We want our children to have a broad vocabulary. Scientific language is to be taught and built upon as topics are revisited in different year groups and across key stages. We ensure speaking and listening is embedded across the curriculum using our transferable skills from English and Maths to communicate our ideas effectively. We intend to provide all children regardless of ethnic origin, gender, aptitude or disability with a broad and balanced Science curriculum.

 Human Speaking and Listening Power of Mastermind Together Stock  Illustration - Illustration of brain, energy: 100587931

 

Implementation

How Science is taught at St. Patrick's:

To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Science, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the school.

We use The 2014 National Curriculum programmes of study for Science and Understanding the World in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

A link to the National Curriculum can be found here:

EYFS Understanding the World

Science National Curriculum 2014

Each Year group, from EYFS to Year 6, plan a differentiated curriculum so every child can succeed. Teachers adapt the National Curriculum and team this with schemes of work from PSTT (PSTT planning link) and ASE planning documents (ASE PLAN link). We are proud that our curriculum offers a broad range of tasks that cater for all learning styles and are varied and dynamic.

An overview of the topics taught in Year 1-6, and their sequence, can be found below:

 

  

Teachers ensure that previous units of work are revisited prior to starting a new unit. Through carefully planned elicitation tasks and open ended questioning, teachers are able to address misconceptions early on and plan and adapt the curriculum to suit the needs of the class and provide opportunities for all to succeed. Teachers use technology where appropriate including the use of iPads and data loggers to support learning.

Teachers want children to explore the world around them and find wonder even in the smallest of things - we plan in opportunities for outdoor learning where ever possible and recognise that experiencing first hand God's wonderful creation is the foundation needed to develop an enquiring mind. 

Free Guide: Outdoor Learning in Early Education | Famly

At Patrick’s, we want to build active and resilient scientists who take responsibility  for their own learning and have a voice in all lessons. This is achieved by planning lessons that allow each child, regardless of ability, to show what they know through a range of ways, such as: drama, talk partners, group work, discussion groups, written work, cartoons, videos/photos, diagrams and concept maps. 

Impact

We assess pupils' progress in Science in a range of ways.

 Attainment is tracked through a shared document across all key stages using the National Curriculum statements for Knowledge and Working Scientifically. However, ongoing assessment is encouraged throughout a unit.

We assess continuously using a range of strategies including: open ended questioning, concept mapping, Explorify tasks (Explorify link), concept cartoons, enquiry observations and practical work. Assessment informs teaching and learning and ensures that all pupils are making good progress. We also moderate children's work regularly by sharing Science books and using the ASE website materials mentioned previously. This ensures consistency across the school and allows a clear progression path for Science skills.

Aside from academic success, our vision is to ultimately foster a love of Science and an appreciation of our world, created by God.  We want our children to be well-rounded, inquisitive individuals who can hypothesise, challenge ideas, communicate findings, recognise and celebrate diversity and take their place in the world with all these skills, equipped and ready for the next stage of their Science learning journey.

World of Awe and Wonder

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCIENCE WEEK 2023!

Habitats display title/lettering | Teaching Resources

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone for an amazing Science Week 2023. The children from EYFS to Year 6 took part in a research project with the theme of: HABITATS.

 

We thought about the question: "What is a scientist?" 

Many of us thought that this was what a scientist does:

Use #ScientistsWhoSelfie to Challenge Science Stereotypes - Science Friday

However, after our project, we realised that WE are all scientists as we all hypothesise and find out answers to questions. 

We wanted to find out more specifically what real scientists do for us and other animals. We researched our own scientists within our year groups. 

Take a look at our fantastic projects!

 

key stage 1 science week.pdf

 

 

key stage 2 science week.pdf

 

Thank you for your support at home!

 

 
  •