SCIENCE

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. They should be encouraged to understand how Science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

National Curriculum 2014

Aims:

In Melling Primary, we are ambitious for our learners. To ensure that they meet those ambitions, we use the Melling Approach, which aims to ensure all pupils:

To develop and promote an interest in and enjoyment of Science.
To provide an atmosphere in which pupils can explore, discover and interact with the world in which they live, at a level that is appropriate to them (often via contextual learning with links to other subjects).
To develop skills of practical investigation and analysis.
To provide a wide range of experiences to develop in pupils an enquiring mind about themselves, the environment and the technological world in which they live.
To develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
To develop an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through different types of Science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
To promote an awareness of safety in everyday life and in school, and an awareness of good health and personal hygiene.
To build and promote an atmosphere in which Science lessons provide answers to satisfy pupils' curiosities and questions about their world
To address pupils' misconceptions about the world.
To provide pupils with the skills and opportunities to question why things happen (scientifically) in the world around them and how to test this in a fair manner.
To give pupils the opportunity to prove theories with evidence collected through investigations and experiments.
To provide pupils with the skills to work scientifically: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources.
To apply skills from other subjects (especially Maths and English).

Our high quality teaching approach:

In Melling, Science learning will be enhanced by including the following in our approach:

Use of a variety of teaching styles in Science lessons
Contextual learning; to make sense and draw links to real life as well as cross-curricular links, although Science should still remain as the core of the lesson's objectives
A wow moment in each Science lesson which can be summarised by pupils through what they've learnt (not always a written explanation/conclusion), and the relevance/usefulness of these ideas.
Quality provocations.
Offering a challenge to all pupils.
Outdoors and practical as much as possible.
Use of fair testing to help explain why pupils' patterns and results may differ.
Pupils have the opportunities to display/record their results in various ways (at times different from core subjects).
Minimise teacher-led and promote investigation and talk time.
To make learning in Science engaging and exciting.
Pupils should have the opportunity to demonstrate their curiosities: hypothesise and predict.
Opportunities to plan and carry out their own investigation.
Provide pupils with the opportunity to research and collect data in a variety of ways – secondary data, which may be collected from various sources, may also be used as additional evidence.
Additional stand-alone lessons can be used to cover the "working scientifically" aspect of the curriculum.

EYFS – Strong Foundations in the Early Years.

For children in Reception, the activities allow children to work towards the Understanding of the World Development Matters statements and Early Learning Goals, while covering foundational knowledge that will support them in their further history learning in Key Stage 1.

Learner Profile of a Scientist:

SEND & Inclusion – Adaptive Teaching

At Melling Primary, Science forms part of a broad and balanced, inclusive curriculum which provides all children with relevant and challenging learning. Through each topic taught, suitable learning challenges are set in response to children’s diverse learning needs. Lessons are designed to be varied, engaging and hands-on. Lessons are designed to be varied, engaging and hands-on.

The scheme of work created by "Developing Experts" is designed to be fully adaptable for children with SEND. It offers guidance on how to adapt the teaching to ensure that lessons can be accessed by all children and opportunities to stretch children’s learning are available. Knowledge organisers support children to build factual knowledge by encouraging recall of key facts and vocabulary.

Children learn in a variety of ways. Therefore, in Melling, we use a range of strategies to support and challenge every child, such as:

Scaffolding – activities are designed with flexibility in mind, allowing for additional support or challenge where needed.

Multi-sensory approaches – lessons incorporate a variety of elements to engage all learners.

Clear instructions and structured tasks – ensuring clarity and reducing cognitive load for children who benefit from additional support.

Opportunities for collaborative and independent learning – allowing children to work at their own pace while building confidence and independence.

By embedding adaptive teaching throughout, we ensure that all children, regardless of their starting points, can access and succeed in their learning.

Children with SEND may have a tailored History curriculum that incorporates some aspects of age-related expectations but will also reinforce vital concepts from previous year groups that have not been fully grasped.

Assessment

Teachers will assess children’s work in Science by making informal judgements during lessons. On completion of a piece of work, the teacher will assess it against age-related learning objectives, and then use this assessment to plan for future learning.

Written or verbal feedback is given to the child to help guide their progress. Older children are encouraged to make judgements about how they can improve their own work. A record of how children are achieving the learning objectives is kept in the front of their exercise books. This data is used to report achievements to parents at the end of the academic year. Exercise books are taken into the next year group to show progress and development of scientific knowledge.

Monitoring

The monitoring and evaluating of practice in Science enables the progress of children to be seen within the class and whole-school contexts of school and staff development. Monitoring of teaching and learning takes place through book scrutiny, lesson observations and pupil interviews to ensure coverage, continuity and progression in Science.

The use of case study children is being developed to enable the subject leader to evaluate achievement for a cross-section of children in each year group (including any children identified as Science Champions). These children will meet with the subject leader on a termly basis and will provide an insight into the Science approach through the eyes of a child (and group) in a particular class.

Achievement

In the academic year 25/26, the percentage of children working at age-related expectation in Science was reported as follows:

Y6 Pupil Attainment % Expected
	2023	2024	2025	2026

Oracy and the language of Science

In Melling, we have identified that our children sometimes struggle with language. Therefore, we try to incorporate as many oracy-related learning activities into our teaching:

TOLD - Talk guidelines provide Opportunities to make Links, and initiate Debate.
Modelling Thinking: Teachers use "think aloud" strategies to model their own reasoning step-by-step, explaining how they reach a certain judgement or conclusion.
Sentence Stems: Structured sentence starters help children articulate reasoning and build on others' ideas.
Exploratory Talk: We move beyond simple answers to encourage "talk-rich" classrooms.
Participation and Routine: Teachers establish talk guidelines and routines from the beginning to ensure all pupils, including those disadvantaged, engage.

Science: What does it look like in each year group?

Websites to inspire a love for Science:

KS2 SCIENCE (BBC BITESIZE)

KS1 SCIENCE BBC BITESIZE

EXPLORIFY SCIENCE