Science

Our science curriculum is designed to meet the context of our school. It equips our children with the knowledge, skills and attitude to master their learning in science and be confident learners now and for life. The curriculum is structured to allow pupils to learn, remember and develop their understanding of the concepts and the nature of science.

The science curriculum at St Pauls enthuses children to understand the world around them and how it operates through experiencing, exploring and evaluating natural phenomena. It develops children’s scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding by providing pupils with a progressive curriculum that promotes mastery to ensure that learning is sustainable, effective and impactful.

Through the scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding of each unit, pupils will utilise the nature, processes and methods of science to allow them to ask questions, identify lines of enquiry, uses equipment accurately, collecting and evaluate data, and accept or refute current scientific modes. Over the course of a two-year cycle, pupils will experience a breadth of scientific enquiry enabling them to develop their curiosity about the world and the possibilities for the future.

Pupils will learn about the enquiry, processes and findings of significant scientists related to the scientific knowledge being studied and where possible access local professionals to further inspire. In doing so, pupils will appreciate that the current scientific understanding of the world has been developed through the application of enquiry including the refining and refuting of ideas. This will allow pupils to question their current scientific understanding and rebuild this in light of the first experiences they engage in. Through this we aim to allow pupils to become more independent, more responsible and more resilient learners.

To ensure that their ideas, knowledge and understanding, and scientific findings can be communicated, pupils will learn, rehearse and use appropriate scientific vocabulary with increasing accuracy.

Pupils are provided with the opportunity to apply their mathematical skills through the recording, presenting and analysing of data, using both first-hand and secondary forms. At all times, the expectations of mathematical accuracy should be consistent with those shown in a maths lessons.   

Aims and Objectives

At St. Paul’s we aim for our children to be master of their learning in science. To achieve this, the science curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding in the areas of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Can use scientific terminology accurately and precisely
• develop an understanding of the nature, methods and processes of science by routinely engaging in the full breadth of scientific enquiry when seeking the answers to their questions about the world around them.
• Are equipped with the scientific knowledge to understand how science is used in the world around them and the potential, and implications, it has for the future.

At St Paul’s, we believe it is of the utmost importance to ensure that pupils have a secure understanding of the knowledge and concepts of each unit of learning before progressing to the next. By allowing children to deepen their understanding, we are ensuring that genuine progression within the science curriculum can take place.