Rawcliffe Bridge Primary School Science Policy
The philosophy of teaching Science:
Science at Rawcliffe Bridge Primary School aims to stimulate a child’s curiosity in
finding out why things happen in the way they do, encouraging pupil’s enthusiasm,
fostering their curiosity and creativity and developing their ability and skills to
appreciate the world in which they live. They learn to question and discuss sciencebased issues that may affect their own lives, the direction of society and the future of
the world. Since science links direct practical experience with ideas, it can engage
learners at many levels. Throughout the school, pupils engage in activities which
encourage them to ask questions, to learn through practical experiences and to offer
their own solutions to problems, enabling them to become independent and effective
learners.
Aims:
The principles of teaching science are:
Children have the opportunities to ask their own questions, to create their own
investigations and record their findings in a variety of ways.
Children are confident, giving opinions, making predictions and reflecting on
what has / hasn’t worked.
Children are excited, having fun and are working together to come up with
solutions
Children are experiencing a wide variety of hands on and interactive lessons.
Tasks are differentiated to provide support and challenge
Children and teachers are using technical vocabulary
The person teaching science feels confident about their skills and knowledge.
These principles have been agreed on by staff and teachers and will be reviewed
annually.
All staff aim to:
• Encourage pupils to build on their own enthusiasm and natural sense of wonder about
the world in which they live.
• Promote opportunities for children to present their own suggestions, to be creative in
their approach to science, and to gain enjoyment from their scientific work.
• Ensure the progressive development of pupils’ scientific knowledge and
understanding.
• Successfully meet the outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda through instilling
positive attitudes and promoting respect for both living and nonliving things and
physical phenomena.
Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development:
Science teaching offers children many opportunities to examine some of the
fundamental questions in life, for example, the evolution of living things and how the
world was created. Through many of the amazing processes that affect living things,
children develop a sense of awe and wonder regarding the nature of our world. Science
raises many social and moral questions. Through the teaching of science, children have
the opportunity to discuss, for example, the effects of smoking, and the moral
questions involved in this issue. We give them the chance to reflect on the way people
care for the planet, and how science can contribute to the way we manage the earth’s
resources. Science teaches children about the reasons why people are different and, by
developing the children’s knowledge and understanding of physical and environmental
factors, it promotes respect for other people.
Science and inclusion:
At our school we teach science to all children, whatever their ability and
individual needs. Science forms part of the school equal opportunities policy to
provide a broad and balanced education to all children. Through our science
teaching we provide learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make good
progress.
We enable all pupils to have access to the full range of activities involved in
learning science. Where children are to participate in activities outside the
classroom (a trip to a science museum, for example) we carry out a risk
assessment prior to the activity, to ensure that the activity is safe and
appropriate for all pupils
We recognise that in all classes children have a wide range of scientific abilities,
and we ensure that we provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by
matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in
a variety of ways:
setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses; setting
tasks of increasing difficulty (we do not expect all children to complete all tasks);
grouping children by ability in the room, and setting different tasks for each
ability group; providing resources of different complexity, matched to the ability
of the child; using classroom assistants to support the work of individual
children or groups of children.
The teaching of Science at Rawcliffe Bridge Primary School
All lessons have clear learning objectives which are shared and reviewed with the pupils
effectively.
A variety of strategies, including questioning, discussion, concept mapping and marking,
are used to assess progress. The information is used to identify what is taught next.
Activities inspire the pupils to experiment and investigate the world around them and to
help them raise their own questions such as "Why...?", "How...?" and "What happens
if...?".
Activities develop the skills of enquiry, observation, locating sources of information,
selecting appropriate equipment and using it safely, measuring and checking results,
making comparisons and communicating results and findings.
Lessons make effective links with other curriculum areas and subjects, especially
literacy, numeracy and ICT.
Activities are challenging, motivating and extend pupils’ learning. Pupils have frequent
opportunities to develop their skills in, and take responsibility for, planning investigative
work, selecting relevant resources, making decisions about sources of information,
carrying out activities safely and deciding on the best form of communicating their
findings
Science Curriculum Planning and Implementation:
Every child, from Reception to Year 6, will be given the opportunity to experience
Science. Where possible, science is taught through a cross-curricular approach,
enabling children to makes links between their learning in science and other areas of
the curriculum. As we have mixed-age classes, we do our long-term planning on a twoyear rotation cycle. In this way we ensure complete coverage of the National
Curriculum without repeating topics.
School curriculum
The programmes of study for Science are set out year-by-year for Key Stages 1 and 2. We
are however, only required to teach the relevant programme of study by the end of the key
stage. Within each key stage, School has the flexibility to introduce content earlier or later
than set out in the programme of study and may introduce key stage content during an
earlier key stage if appropriate.
Teachers will base their planning on the programmes of study for their relevant year
groups.
Scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding
The programmes of study describe a sequence of knowledge and concepts. While it is
important that pupils make progress, it is also vitally important that they develop secure
understanding of each key block of knowledge and concepts in order to progress to the
next stage.
Pupils should be able to describe associated processes and key characteristics in common
language, but they should also be familiar with, and use, technical terminology accurately
and precisely. They should build up an extended specialist vocabulary. They should also
apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of Science, including
collecting, presenting and analysing data.
The nature, processes and methods of science
‘Working scientifically’ specifies the understanding of the nature, processes and methods of
Science for each year group. It should not be taught as a separate strand.
Key Stage 1
The main focus of science teaching in Key Stage 1 is to enable pupils to experience and
observe phenomena, looking more closely at the natural and humanly-constructed world
around them. They should be encouraged to be curious and ask questions about what they
notice. They should be helped to develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using
different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions, including observing
changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying
out simple comparative tests and finding things out using secondary sources of
information. They should begin to use simple scientific language to talk about what they
have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways.
Most of the learning about Science should be done through the use of first-hand practical
experiences, but there should also be some use of appropriate secondary sources, such as
books, photographs and videos.
Pupils should read and spell scientific vocabulary at a level consistent with their reading and
spelling knowledge at Key Stage 1.
Lower Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4
The main focus of Science teaching in Lower Key Stage 2 is to enable pupils to broaden
their scientific view of the world around them. They should do this through exploring,
talking about, testing and developing ideas about everyday phenomena and the
relationships between living things and familiar environments, and by beginning to develop
their ideas about functions, relationships and interactions. They should ask their own
questions about what they observe and make some decisions about which types of
scientific enquiry are likely to be the best ways of answering them, including observing
changes over time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple
fair tests and finding things out using secondary sources of information. They should draw
simple conclusions and use some scientific language, first, to talk about and, later, to write
about what they have found out.
‘Working scientifically’ must always be taught through and clearly related to substantive
Science content in the programme of study.
Pupils should read and spell scientific vocabulary correctly and with confidence, using their
growing reading and spelling knowledge.
Upper Key Stage 2 – Years 5-6
The main focus of Science teaching in Upper Key Stage 2 is to enable pupils to develop a
deeper understanding of a wide range of scientific ideas. They should do this through
exploring and talking about their ideas; asking their own questions about scientific
phenomena; and analysing functions, relationships and interactions more systematically.
At Upper Key Stage 2, they should encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise
how these ideas help them to understand and predict how the world operates. They should
also begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. They should
select the most appropriate ways to answer Science questions using different types of
scientific enquiry, including observing changes over different periods of time, noticing
patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out fair tests and finding things out using
a wide range of secondary sources of information. Pupils should draw conclusions based on
their data and observations, use evidence to justify their ideas, and use their scientific
knowledge and understanding to explain their findings. Pupils should read, spell and
pronounce scientific vocabulary correctly.
‘Working and thinking scientifically’ must always be taught through and clearly related to
substantive Science content in the programme of study.
The Foundation Stage
We teach science in the reception and nursery class as an integral part of the topic work
covered during the year. We relate the scientific aspects of the children’s work to the
objectives set out in the Understanding the World section of the new curriculum which
underpin the curriculum planning for children aged three to five. Science makes a
significant contribution to developing a child’s knowledge and understanding of the
world, for example through investigating what floats and what sinks when placed in
water.
Assessment:
Assessment for learning is continuous throughout the planning and teaching cycle for
science. Assessment is used to inform future planning and to provide information to
support teacher judgments about pupils’ attainment.
Methods of Assessment are to include:
 Observations of pupils at work, both individually, in pairs and within groups.
 Questioning of and listening to pupils.
 Considering any work pupils have produced.
 Children’s progress is continually monitored through the science assessment
tracking sheet
Marking for Improvement (see policy)
Much of the work done in science lessons is of a practical or oral nature and, as such,
recording will take many varied forms thus making marking different. It is, however,
important that written work is marked regularly and clearly, as an aid to progression
and to celebrate achievement. When appropriate, pupils may be asked to self assess or
peer assess their own or other’s work.
Marking for improvement comments in a child’s book must be relevant to the learning
objective to help children to better focus on future targets. It is imperative that children
are given the time to improve their work and teachers will support children by
scaffolding improvements as necessary.
Resources:
The resources are kept in the corridor (outside the Y3/4 classroom and the Y1/2
classroom). The Science subject leader is responsible for the inventory of resources; the
ordering of consumable resources and teaching resources
The library contains a good supply of science topic books and computer software to
support children’s individual research.
Safe practice
Safe practice must be promoted at all times. Teachers must also take into account all
relevant Health and Safety issues. Please refer to schools’ health and safety policy and
specific risk assessments. Particular attention must be given to avoiding the use of
anything that aggravates individual pupils’ allergies.
Completed: October 2014
For Review: September 2016