Curriculum

At Gilded Hollins, science is taught using a well-designed, progressive programme of study written by 'Developing Experts'.

The carefully sequenced curriculum is designed to enable the learner to experience a coherent curriculum delivered through a logical progression. Attention has been paid to the order in which knowledge has been delivered, built on and revisited.

The curriculum is based on the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum and is enhanced by industry experts who link lesson topics to careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Curriculum Implementation

Our science curriculum is coherently planned to carefully sequence learning and progress skills from the very beginning of the curriculum through to Year 6. The progression maps make this sequence of learning clear, enabling staff to see what has gone before and what the next steps in learning will be.

The progression grids for both knowledge and skills, used alongside the curriculum maps,  ensure that all objectives within the National Curriculum have been covered.

Expert films are available for every lesson to demonstrate the relevance of what the children are learning in the real world. They make the learning come alive and prompt children to think, 'I could do that!'

Units and lessons are sequenced so that new knowledge is built upon prior learning. Our science curriculum uses a teaching order which ensures that knowledge is built upon gradually and cumulatively, with recall questions embedded throughout.

Lessons are structured so that all pupils are given multiple opportunities to recap on previous learning both from the lesson itself and those lessons that have gone before. Substantive knowledge (established known facts e.g. we live on Earth)  is reinforced by frequently recalling information through pictures, videos and vocabulary. This approach ensures that the lessons are ambitious but also supportive of all children, regardless of their initial competence.

Knowledge organisers are in place for each topic to be covered. These present the key concepts in a child friendly manner and are a useful tool to support learning.

Before and after short assessments and the use of 'rocket words' (key vocabulary) enable teachers to check understanding and address any conceptual or vocabulary-related misconceptions before, during and following the completion of a unit. Resources are designed to support teachers as they progress through a unit, meaning that feedback can be provided on a regular basis and teaching can be adapted as required. 

Teachers are supported through the provision of subject mastery documents are provided for each unit which may require more extensive knowledge; these provide further information for each topic.

Children and staff use the Seesaw app to showcase the learning taking place within science lessons and send photographs and/or videos of this to parents. These are stored and can be used as evidence of practical investigations and hands-on learning.

Reception children are taught science under the ‘Understanding The World’  theme of the EYFS curriculum and also access the Developing Experts scheme of work.

We aim to develop a love for this subject by building in our own expertise into our science lessons and teachers are encouraged to use the scheme as a starting point for their planning and resourcing. Educational visits such as local walks to Pennington flash, river work in year 4 and a visit to the farm in reception help to further enthuse children about science. In school this year, to enhance our curriculum further,  we have had a Mad Science assembly and a Mad Science afterschool club; a science day with whole school investigations into biscuit dunking, an interactive assembly and learning about inspirational scientists; planting in our school grounds as a lunch time activity in the summer term and VR workshops for all year groups.

How is science assessed?

Progress in monitored continually by teachers and teaching is adjusted accordingly. At the beginning of each topic, children are given a short assessment to complete to assess their current knowledge. This allows staff to have a clear picture the base knowledge of the subject for the majority of class, making adaptations where needed. Once the unit has been completed, the children complete the unit assessment. This will show those who have understood the subject matter and any gaps in understanding, which can be addressed in recaps in following sessions. 

Much of the learning covered in Science is kept hands-on and multi-sensory, therefore providing practical learning so that skills can become embedded and so ensure concrete understanding of scientific concepts. Recording of scientific testing and use of vocabulary is promoted through a variety of engaging and challenging tasks, which allow teachers to judge the progress of children’s learning and give children an opportunity to evaluate their own learning.

Formative assessments through questioning and verbal discussion takes place routinely during every lesson is used by teachers to support or challenge the needs of SEND and G&T children.

The results of all these various assessments are collated over time. Decisions are made by class teachers as to whether children are emerging, expected or exceeding the level appropriate to their age. Mindful of staff workload, this is collated formally at the end of the academic year and inputted onto Insight, shared with the SLT and passed on to the subject leader. There seem to have been some technical issues with inputting science data this year that will need to be addressed going forward.

In the Foundation stage, learning is initiated from the child’s own knowledge and assessment of children’s knowledge is measured through the steps made in the EYFS profile each term, in a floor book and through close observations by staff.

Curriculum Impact

 Impact

Our science curriculum ensures that children take part in engaging, high quality science lessons providing them with a solid scientific base of knowledge ready for the challenge of the following year.

We want all our children to see how science impacts on their world - it needs to feel real.

We also want our children to be able to work confidently, collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment. Finally, we want children to know more and retain more so that they are able to achieve end of year expectations and go on to feel confident and competent in the secondary science classroom.

What has past monitoring revealed?

• The relatively new scheme ‘Developing Experts’ is becoming increasingly embedded and teachers are more confident in using this resource and the expectations for each unit. At its best the scheme’s objectives, vocabulary and investigations are used and resources are enhanced through teachers’ own resources and ideas. We are an experienced staff so we should be able to adapt (see book monitoring attached).
• Current training guidance from the Primary Science Educational Consultancy (see attached)  has made it clear the order of science units taught in each year group should be given consideration to enable children to make the best possible progress. As a result of this research time was spent by staff looking at their current science teaching and the guidance on sequencing to achieve the best outcomes as a result of this staff have updated their long term plans for science with some units now being taught across the year rather than in one half term.
• From book monitoring (see attached) it is apparent that in science: frequently vocabulary comes first, opportunities for enquiry are frequent, children regularly get feedback, vocabulary and/or definitions are provided for SEND and a variety of practical work is shared by photos in books and/or uploaded to Seesaw. Very occasionally work undertaken is not focused on the year group’s main objectives and this can cause overlap with other year groups.
• Pupil voice (see attached) was a joy to listen to as the enthusiasm for science was clear from all of the children. They clearly love the subject- especially the practical elements. I couldn’t get them to stop talking! Children are, however, not always clear that they can use vocabulary sheets and Knowledge Organisers to support their learning.
• Staff our becoming increasingly confident in using the school grounds to teach about habitats, plants and lifecycles. A variety of plants have been grown this year including beans in year 1, wildflowers in year 2, cress in year 3 and strawberries, potatoes, peppers and wildflowers in lunch time gardening club. The poor weather this year has left our field plots flooded for a significant period of the year limiting growing opportunities- hopefully this will be addressed this year by the building of raised beds funded by the Tesco blue token application to create an inclusive fruit and vegetable garden for use all year round.
• Science is currently well resourced and the new Design Technology scheme does involve sharing resources but so far this has been successfully managed. The science storage and organisation does need work and ideally needs to accommodate Design Technology resources too.
• The science data at the time of writing painted a largely positive picture; however some Science data had not yet been entered on Insight in July 2024.

Where to now? Recent developments, highlights and priorities for future developments

Future development opportunities:

• Continue to monitor a whole school approach to Developing Experts and that year 1- year 6 are bookmarking each unit with a Knowledge Organiser, vocabulary and pre and post assessment. Children need to be explicitly taught that they can use the vocabulary definitions and Knowledge Organisers to support them.  When monitoring there will be a focus on explicit vocabulary teaching in lessons and practical work in each year group.
• Monitor the change in sequencing of units in science (is the new Long Term Planning order being followed and what impact have the changes had)?
• Support and guidance to continue to be given to teachers to ensure recommended units and objectives are being covered to show progression and that current NC statutory requirements covered in right key stage.
• Use the potential funding from Tesco blue tokens to create a year round accessible planting area. Linking Eco Schools with science raising the profile of ‘Eco’ e.g. ensuring that vegetable/ flower beds are used by all year groups learning about plants (reception, year 1, year 2, year 3 and year 5)
• To continue to enable curriculum enhancements for science through Science day, Mad Science, educational visits and any other opportunities that develop.
• Create a joint systematic storage area for Science and Design Technology.
• Ensure data for each year group in science is entered to Insight in July 2025.