Hanbury’s and Oakhill Primary School Federation

Growing and Succeeding Together

Across the Federation of Hanbury's Farm and Oakhill Primary Schools, we recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of daily life. The Scientific area of learning is concerned with increasing pupil's knowledge and understanding of our world, and with developing skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry. Science will develop children's natural curiosity, encourage respect for living organisms and the physical environment and provide opportunities for critical evaluation of evidence. We endeavour to ensure that the Science curriculum we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences. 

Science Curriculum Intent

The National Curriculum for Science aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through areas of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Develop understanding through different types of science enquiry that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

Across the Hanbury’s Farm and Oakhill Federation, we aim to give our pupils practical and investigative experiences and opportunities which encourage children to become independent learners with enquiring minds. Scientific opportunities are planned over 3 terms with the purpose that knowledge and skills are progressively built upon year on year. From Reception to Year 6, children are taught and are given opportunities to use a range of practical scientific methods, processes and skills through:

• Asking questions in order to solve or answer a scientific questions
• Recognising and accepting that questions can be answered in different ways and that people often have different views
• Making close observations using simple equipment
• Performing simple tests, making note of variables and fair testing
• Identify and classifying
• Gather and recording data to support and to give evidence towards answering scientific questions
• Both an independent and collaborative attitude to learning and discovery
• Reporting findings from enquiries including oral and written explanations, using key scientific vocabulary

Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children's school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills in order to promote and embed scientific understanding. 

With these methods, processes and skills, the children who leave Hanbury’s and Oakhill Primary Schools at the end of year 6 will be equipped with the necessary knowledge to be able to initiate a series of experiences which will enable a conclusion to be made, a resolution to be discovered or to be able raise new scientific questions.