"The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers; they are the one who asks the right questions.” - Claude Levi-Strauss

Intent

At Cedar Park School we want pupils to:

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them.
• Gain the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

Implementation

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in Science lessons. Our principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills, and understanding. Sometimes we do this through whole-class teaching, while at other times we engage the children in an enquiry-based research activity. We encourage the children to ask, as well as answer, scientific questions. They have the opportunity to use a variety of data, such as statistics, graphs, pictures, and photographs. Children use ICT in Science lessons where it enhances their learning. They take part in role-play and discussions and present reports to the rest of the class.

Children engage in a wide variety of problem-solving activities to answer questions raised by the teacher or themselves. Wherever possible, we involve the pupils in ‘real’ scientific activities carrying out practical experiments and analysing the results.

Children spend 1 afternoon a week doing Science and it is taught in the National Curriculum Units. Most of these last a half term but some go across half terms. Class teachers deliver the curriculum using the scheme Developing Experts.

At Cedar Park School we are aware that:

• Learning is most effective with spaced repetition.
• Interleaving helps pupils to discriminate between topics and aids long-term retention.
• Retrieval of previously learned content is frequent and regular, which increases both storage and retrieval strength.

Consideration of this within the Science curriculum

Within the Science curriculum, previous skills and knowledge are returned to and built upon in every lesson with our High 5. We use Long Term Memory (LTM) checks for each unit and end of unit tests. These end of unit tests take place at the end of a unit and can then be re-used in future High 5s.

Impact

• Pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the primary Science curriculum will be assessed according to the provisions outlined in our school’s Feedback & Marking Policy.
• Teachers will assess children’s work in Science by making informal judgements during lessons, marking work, using the Long Term Memory Checks and End of Unit tests and also using Target Tracker. The Target Tracker assessment is included in the End of Year Reports and provides the ability to monitor progress in a more formal way like Reading, Writing and Maths.
• On completion of a piece of work, the teacher will assess the work and may give some form of written or oral feedback.
• In Key Stage 2 pupils are encouraged to make judgements about how they can improve their own work.
• Evaluation of the quality and standards of children’s work in Science will take place through work scrutinies, observations and pupil interviews.
• Monitoring the quality and standards of the teaching will take place in partnership with the headteacher through work scrutinies and observations.
• At the end of each unit, the Developing Experts End of Unit test is used to assess the children. These can then be re-used in the future, or parts re-used, to check for long term memory.

Successes

• Science week is often the highlight with external teachers or Yr6s often leading learning that week.
• Lots of enquiry skills are taught through a range of experiments as the school is well resourced for doing these.
• We have recently introduced a Long Term Memory assessment to help the children recall key facts. These key questions alongside key vocabulary are shared at the beginning of each unit of study.

What Does Science at Cedar Park Look Like?

Science lessons begin with our High 5 and this takes a range of different forms to help us trigger prior learning. It may be linked to the last lesson or looking at other topics to link to our Long Term Memory checks.

We share the LO and key vocabulary with children and make sure they understand the key terms. During the lesson there is lots of dialogue between the children, with the children and, when needed, to guide the children through their tasks. There is lots of practical, experimental work and recording can be done individually or as a whole class. The children are then given opportunities to focus on different elements of an experiment.

Teachers adapt their teacher to make Science available for all and for it to be challenging for all. They address misconceptions with live, verbal feedback whilst also allowing children to be inquisitive and learn from their scientific errors. There is always the opportunity for children to ask questions and be inspired by what they are doing in a Cedar Park Science lesson.

Lessons follow the basic structure of:

• High 5
• Work through the Lesson Presentation sharing:
• Objectives
• Rocket Words
• Learning
• Expert Film
• Mission Assignment - this is the experiment or research part of the lesson
• Mission Quiz Master / Assessment Quiz / Wordsearch

Science for children with SEND

At Cedar Park, we provide suitable learning opportunities for all pupils by matching the challenge of the task to the individual needs and abilities of each pupil. Quality First teaching and Adaptive teaching are at the forefront of all we do. We will achieve this in a variety of ways, including:

•Pre-expose learners to the content of the lesson, e.g: introduce resources, topics, link to previous years etc.

•Create opportunities for physical contact with the Science equipment if beneficial.

•Provide visual aids to support learners.

•Drip-feed key vocabulary throughout the school day, rather than limiting references to specific science lessons. Discussions around everyday science can help to embed this language.

•Assigning classroom assistants to individual/groups of pupils, where appropriate, to enable greater one-to-one support.

•Providing extra learning opportunities through bespoke support groups (e.g. one for those with SEND and another for academically more able pupils)

•Using cooperative learning to ensure all children are engaged in their learning

•Use strategies such as modelling and demonstrating to help learners understand scientific concepts.

Useful Documents & Links