Science
Science is taught each week and has a timetabled slot to ensure science is revisited often to help secure knowledge.
Our Reception children are first introduced to science in the Early Years curriculum where it is called Knowledge and understanding of the world. They will explore creatures, people, plants and objects in their natural environments. Observe and manipulate objects and materials to identify differences and similarities. Children also learn to use their senses, feeling dough or listening to sounds in the environment, such as sirens or farm animals.
During their time at Great Wishford, the children are encouraged to ask questions about why things happen and how things work; learn to explore, problem solve, observe, predict, think, make decisions and talk about the world around them. Your child will also be learn how to communicate, plan, investigate, record and evaluate findings of an investigation.
Impact
At Great Wishford we aim to develop the children’s natural curiosity about the environment and help them to seek explanations. The children will develop caring and sensitive attitudes towards living things and the environment and be able to create hypotheses, design and carry out experiments, make observations and to record results. They will be able to use scientific methods of investigation and develop responsible attitudes to health and safety.
Our children will leave Great Wishford with imagination, inspirational thinking and receptive minds- all the skills needed to become independent life long learners and successful British Citizens.
Throughout Key Stage 1 science lessons, children at Great Wishford CofE Primary will be learning about the importance of asking questions, gathering evidence, carrying out experiments and looking at different ways of presenting their results. Lessons are practical and will focus on the world around them.
National Curriculum topics – Year 1
Plants where they will look at identifying and naming plants and look at their basic structure
Animals including humans, where they will be identifying and naming a range of animals and understanding how and why they are grouped
Everyday materials, where they will look at materials and their properties
Seasonal changes, where they observe changes across the four seasons and look at different types of weather
National Curriculum topics – Year 2
Living things and their habitats, including dependence within habitats and micro-habitats
Plants, where they will be observing how seeds and bulbs grow into plants and what plants need to stay healthy
Animals including humans, where they will be focusing on reproduction, nutrition and exercise
Everyday materials, Where they will be comparing their uses and looking at how they can be changed by exerting force
In Lower Key Stage 2 children are encouraged to ask questions about scientific concepts and then carry out experiments to find out the answers. As children enter Upper Key Stage 2 children will continue to practise these skills but with more depth and precision.
In Lower key stage 2 children learn what a 'fair test' is, they begin to take measurements from a range of equipment, Children begin to gather and record data and report their findings orally and in writing. Children are taught to understand what variables are and how to control them.
In Upper Key Stage 2 children are given opportunities to take measurements from a range of equipment, understanding the need for repeated measures to increase accuracy. Children begin to gather and record data using labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs. Children use test results to make further predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests. Children make conclusions on the test carried out, orally and in writing.
National Curriculum - Year 3
Plants including parts of plants, needs of plants and their lifecycles
Animals including humans, focusing on nutrition, skeletons and muscles
Rocks, including comparing rocks, looking at fossils and understanding how soil is made
Light, looking at how light is reflected, how shadows are formed and can change.
Forces and magnets, focusing on attraction and repulsion of magnets, magnetic materials and the two poles of a magnet.
National Curriculum - Year 4Living things and their habitats, including classifying living things and looking at changes to environments.
Animals, including humans, focusing on eating: teeth, the digestive system and food chains.
States of matter, including grouping materials, changing state, evaporation and condensation.
Sound, looking at creation of sound through vibration and changes in pitch and volume.
Electricity, including constructing a circuit and understanding conductors and insulators.
Living things and their habitats, including life cycles of a mammal, amphibian, insect and bird.
Animals, including humans, focusing on changes from birth to old age.
Properties and changes of materials, including dissolving, separating and reversible changes.
Living things and their habitats, including classifying micro-organisms, plants and animals.
Evolution and inheritance, looking at fossils, reproduction and adaptation.
Light, looking closely at how it travels and how shadows are made.
Electricity, analysing the function of lamps, buzzers, cells and switches.