Alverstoke Infant School Science

Curriculum Intent

At Alverstoke Infant School we aspire to be scientists! We know the world is changing at a fast past and we want to equip our children with the skills for an ever changing workplace. Our intent is to build on the children’s natural curiosity to further develop their understanding of the world around them, whilst helping them to acquire useful scientific skills. We plan carefully for lessons, with modelled and demonstrated teaching and practical ‘hands on’ experiences. We work like real scientists; posing and answering questions, having open discussions and discovering through observation. Where possible we follow child led enquiry. We take advantage of our community links, inviting in parents and local people who have real life experience and careers in a range of scientific fields to inspire our children.
The scientific learning is made up of key learning blocks which are cyclical in nature. The key learning is identified and built into learning journeys which are taught in KS1, these are based upon the exploratory based learning which occurs in the Early Years. We develop their scientific vocabulary and ask them to reason their thinking to explain the observations they make. The children record their findings appropriate to their level of development, the use of drawings, photographs, class observations, simple tables/ charts showing the learning journey the children are working on, these may also be annotated to include the individual child’s ideas.
We provide opportunities to enhance the children’s scientific learning through regular planned opportunities to work outside and find out about their own school grounds and local area. Use of the internet allows all children to have access to short science clips to support their scientific understanding, like for example, when learning about the wider world.
Children with SEND are adequately supported in Science through the use of scaffolded tasks, increased adult support, the use of models and images and through having regular retrieval practise.

Curriculum Implementation

• Teachers share their love of science and show how it is relevant in our world today. They show the breadth of scientific work in the workplace that can occur in a huge range of environments – astronauts, ecologists, toxicologists and microbiologists!
•  The Science overview shows where each year group will teach the substantive knowledge and also how the disciplinary skills are developed over time. There is clear progression in each year group.
•  The cyclical nature of the planning means that children continually return to previous knowledge through quizzes, questions and picture prompts, allowing the knowledge and skills to become ‘sticky’ and locked into their long term memory

Curriculum Impact

• Most children achieve ARE at the end of Key Stage 1. Children with SEND are supported as necessary to achieve their potential.
• Children are better prepared for the workplace and more children choose to study science at A-level and degree level.

Whole School Progression Overview

Working Scientifically Progression Document