Intent
Our intent is to provide our children with an engaging, exciting, and empowering curriculum that allows them to develop as confident responsible citizens equipped with the skills that will allow them to be successful in our ever-changing world, both in the present and the future.
We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative, and enquiring time in our lives. We constantly provide enrichment opportunities (memorable experiences) to engage learners and develop their cultural capital which has been recognised as essential if children are to succeed.
We believe that our children should not only reach their best academically, but also develop a thirst for knowledge, foster a love of learning and leave our school with exceptional independent learning skills.
We are fully committed to developing each child’s unique potential within a secure and caring environment.
We use our Captain Webb Values to promote positive attitudes to learning:
Listen
Encourage
Achieve
Respect
Nurture
At Captain Webb, our intention is to provide a high-quality science education that provides children with the foundations they need to recognise the importance of science in every aspect of daily life. As one of the core subjects taught in primary schools, we give the teaching and learning of science the prominence and relevance it requires.
Through science learning, our children have a greater awareness of the role of science in everyday life. Science at Captain Webb ignites pupils’ curiosity and offers opportunities to develop their observation, questioning and reasoning skills whilst equipping them with the key knowledge and understanding of the world around them. We intend for our children to think independently and to be life-long learners who are enthused, curious and inquisitive, confident to ask ‘Big Questions’ and who are well prepared for their future in the ever-changing world.
Implementation
Our pupils leave Captain Webb with all the knowledge and skills required to be curious and confident scientists by embedding a curriculum that helps children foster a healthy curiosity about the world around them. Our curriculum has been planned to ensure that the knowledge children have is built upon not only each year, but each term and within every science lesson. We’ve found that this increases children’s enthusiasm for the topic whilst embedding procedural knowledge into their long-term memory. Knowledge within our science curriculum is taught through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics. These are mapped out across the year groups to ensure progression.
Our knowledge-based curriculum encourages practical exploration and investigation activities, which enable our children to think and behave like scientists. Children understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes. Thus, our curriculum aims to enable pupils to develop enquiring minds with a range of investigative skills.
Please see our science knowledge and skills grid, which shows end of year key knowledge and highlights progression through the scientific strands.
BIOLOGY Science knowledge
CHEMISTRY Science knowledge
PHYSICS Science knowledge
Science skills
Quality texts linked to our Science teaching
Working scientifically plays an important role in our science planning as it means that children able to obtain key scientific knowledge through practical experiences like using scientific equipment, conducting experiments, and explaining ideas confidently.
Below are our BIG science questions that children have the opportunity to explore and answer throughout the year. These show children the range of scientific enquiry methods we can use to investigate scientific phenomena.
Scientific Enquiry INC MATHS LINKS
Science at Captain Webb is taught through blocks which supports children to develop mastery of the subject. Children working at greater depth can revisit their learning and delve deeper into the topic. At the beginning of each topic, initial assessments are completed to determine prior knowledge and ensure that progression is consistent. Children also ask 6 ‘big questions’ about their topic to inform teachers’ planning and guarantee that learning is driven by children’s interests. This further develops their enthusiasm for the topic.
Our science policy highlights coverage of science unit blocks in each year group, planning and assessment tools.
Science Policy
Impact
As well as monitoring of attainment, the impact of effective science teaching is clear in the children’s ability to apply their knowledge to scientific enquiries.
The impact of science is also evident within the opportunities we provide to develop cultural capital. We do this across the curriculum and throughout the school by:
• Organising events such as Science Week or STEM Week, allowing pupils to apply their knowledge and skills to cross-curricular concepts or topics
• Working closely with local secondary schools, thus demonstrating a love of science work and an interest in further study and work in this field
• Working collaboratively and practically to investigate and experiment
• Having butterflies and chicks to assist with real-life learning about life cycles
• Igniting curiosity through our memorable experiences, including the Wonderdome and Dorothy Clive Gardens
• Exposing children to a variety of visits where they explore animals and their habitats, including Blue Planet Aquarium, Chester Zoo, and visits from the Exotic Zoo
• Visiting a theme park so pupils can experience forces in a real-life context
• Numerous visits to the local area to widen children’s understanding of the area around them