At Ashbrook, we aim for all children to see themselves as scientists, questioning the world around them. Children are given opportunities to explore and challenge stereotypes within science. We focus on different STEM career opportunities to broaden knowledge of opportunities in later life. Children will have an understanding of how science is constantly evolving, learning how theories have changed within particular units of work and how some are continuing to change. The curriculum is planned so that they are able to make links within a topic and then link this knowledge within other topics. Children should leave us with a strong knowledge based on the curricular strands but more importantly, will have a good understanding of how to work scientifically.
We place significant importance on vocabulary and as a result, each lesson has a vocabulary focus to support children in understanding key words for that lesson and topic. It is expected that children will then be able to use these words in forming written responses whilst also being confident if they see the words in other contexts.
All children are also provided opportunities to see how science links within other subjects, using the skills and knowledge that they develop in science across a range of subjects so that the information isn’t seen as being stand alone. Children need to know how science underpins many things we do and know and this should be clear through the cross-curricular links. In particular, children should know the clear links between science, maths and technology and be able to discuss how these skills link to future career opportunities.
Retrieval forms an important part of science as they provide the opportunity to review what they have learnt from previous lessons and provide an opportunity to support retention of information. It is expected that lessons will share links during a topic to support long-term memory, with children able to understand the links rather than seeing them as separate facts.
To support children at Ashbrook seeing themselves as scientists, it is also expected that they will be provided numerous chances to work scientifically each year. This will provide children with the opportunity to question, explore and understand the world around them further. As they move through school, children will become increasingly confident in forming questions that they want to test, identifying their methodology to do so and then completing investigations. Following on from this, children will then become confident in making conclusions from the data they have got from their investigations, making links between their previous knowledge or coming to new scientific conclusions based on their results. Children will also be able to identify limitations in their methodology, considering how they would be able to complete the investigation differently and the impact this may have upon their results. All of this will support children in being ready for the next step of their education whilst supporting their written outcomes within science.