Science
At Gascoigne Primary School scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this procedural knowledge into the long-term memory.
The curriculum embodies the four main 'curriculum intent principles' as follows:
Ourselves
- To build pupil’s natural curiosity and scientific approach to problems.
- To enable pupils to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions.
Our World
- To prepare our pupils for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world today and in the future.
- To give all pupils a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.
Our Education
- To ensure our pupils acquire a growing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of scientific ideas.
- To enable pupils to develop and use of scientific language, recording and techniques.
- To develop pupils, use of computing in investigating and recording and make links between Science and other subjects.
Our Rights
- To give pupils the right to develop open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and the skills of investigation – including: observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesising, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating.
- The UN Convention on the Rights of a child states, in article 28 (right to education) every child has the right to an education and further outlines in article 29 (goals of education) that education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full.
Our Principles of Science
At Gascoigne Primary School we believe that providing a motivating science curriculum will help to develop children’s excitement, curiosity and understanding about the world around them.
We endeavour to help children develop their understanding of scientific ideas by using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions.
These include:
- Observing changes over a period of time
- Noticing patterns
- Grouping and classifying
- Comparative/fair testing
- Finding things out using secondary sources of information (research)
The staff at Gascoigne have agreed the following:
Science is going well when……………
- We apply our ‘working scientifically skills’ to solve problems, explore, observe and investigate.
- We ask questions and work together to discover the answers.
- Science has a wow factor and promotes a sense of awe and wonder.
- Our learning is enhanced by outdoor learning, specialist visitors and we have access to quality resources.
- We are involved in creating and carrying out investigations and can share and explain our ideas and conclusions.