Science

Science at St. Peter’s

At St. Peter’s, our aims, vision and values are at the core of everything we do.

We are guided by the key message of our Mission Statement,

'If we follow Jesus, the world will follow us.'

They define our teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils as confident, capable, resilient and responsible citizens able to enjoy a healthy life to the full.

Our inclusive school community works in partnership to meet the responsibility of developing each child in every way – spiritually, emotionally, academically, physically and socially because each child who is a unique creation of God and loved by God, deserves this.

We deliver the Science curriculum through the unique approach of the St. Peter’s Family.

Why is Science important at St. Peter’s?

• A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science.
• Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena.
• Through our Science curriculum, children glean skills to enable them to become life-long learners.

What are the key knowledge concepts in Science at St. Peter’s?

What are the key Science subject discipline skills?

• Being curious and ask questions about what they notice.
• Developing their understanding of scientific ideas · using different types of scientific enquiry to answer their own questions
• Observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information
• Using simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to a range of audiences in a variety of ways
• Using scientific equipment and resources in a safe and knowledgeable way
• Understanding resilience in Science.

How does St. Peter’s ensure progression in our key knowledge and concepts in Science?

• Knowledge taught becomes more in depth
• Increasing complexity of language and precision expected
• Pupils demonstrate their knowledge and understanding as a scientist through a TASC project
• Pre and post diagnostic assessments are used at the start of end of each unit
• Whole school progression document for working scientifically and subject fluency to ensure knowledge and skills are built on. 

How do we know our children have made progress?

End points

FS children can:

• Talk about things using the past tense
• Sequence several events chronologically
• Talk about things that happened in the past in their own lives and those of other family members
• Recognise things that are the same and different between the past and now
• Say how they know that something is from the past
• Use language related to the past (yesterday, when I was 3, in the olden days, long ago, about a year ago)

End points

KS1 children can:

• Describe a historical event
• Describe a significant person in the past
• Talk about something that’s happened in the local area
• Say how things were different or the same in the past
• Talk about life in a different era
• Ask and answer questions
• Use precise, topic-specific language
• Place people and/or events in broad periods of time
• Collect information from different sources (objects, pictures, films and age-appropriate books)
• Compare, contrast and describe people, places and objects in the past
• Give simple reasons for events or actions using ‘because’
• Present their findings.

End points

Year 4 Children can:

• Explain why the Romans were important in Britain
• Describe some of the achievements of Ancient Greeks and how they influence today
• Describe the local area in the past and how it has changed
• Place the historical periods studied in chronological order
• Make comparisons, contrasts and links within periods of time
• Ask questions about change and give an example of the consequences
• Give several reasons for why events happened
• Describe similarities and differences within the periods studied
• Combine information from more than one source
• Present findings in extended pieces of work
• Use historical and subject-specific language
• Describes objects in detail and make some inferences and deductions based on their observations
• Recognise that people had different feelings about events in the past.

End points

Year 6 Children can:

• Describe some changes that happened from the Stone Age to the Iron Age and why they were important
• Describe a famous explorer and their achievements and challenges
• Explain what it means to be a citizen of Britain
• Discuss whether Maya were a great civilization referring to some of their achievements and follies
• Sequence events across periods at British, local and world level
• Compare and contrast, including across periods
• Identify trends and patterns and suggests reasons for these
• Explain the significance of people and events
• Select relevant sources
• Take into account bias and credibility of sources
• Empathise and recognise different points of view
• Interpret sources and events and use conjecture
• Written work is structured and detailed and includes technical historical terms and dates
• Present a balanced point of view.

In Science lessons, as in all aspects of the curriculum, children are true to their faith. This can be summarised through one line taken from our Mission Statement: ‘We are happy when we do our best in our work and play’.

Science Learning Walk

November 2018

Mrs Finan and Mr O'Connor joined children from Reception - Year 6 for their Science learning.

The images below capture some of the excellent work from across the school.