Science Curriculum Intent

Science at St Michael’s offers an opportunity to explore, investigate and be curious about the world around us, in order to recognise the uses and implications of science today and for the future. We do this in three ways.

• Firstly, we deliver a knowledge-based science curriculum supported by knowledge organisers, key concepts and vocabulary, alongside exciting visits to bring the learning to life.

• Next, we provide opportunities for exploration and investigation, allowing children to ask and explore scientific questions.

• Finally, we develop curiosity through taking advantage of incidental science opportunities as they arise in the children’s daily lives at school and at home. It is not unusual for us to drop everything during a hailstone storm or start the day off discussing something scientifically interesting that happened to a child at home.

By the time they leave St Michael’s, children will have a well-formed schemata of scientific knowledge as a solid basis for moving secondary school.

Science Curriculum Implementation

We have broken the science curriculum into two chunks:

• Scientific knowledge
• Investigative understanding

The knowledge curriculum is broken into half termly units, as shown below:

The investigative elements are then taught alongside this, with each year group focusing on a different element. These focuses build in terms of difficult, as identified below:

The next table shows the investigative curriculum in more detail.

Example of a Medium Term Plan

Here is an example of the Science medium term planning grid