Intent

Article 28. Every Child has the right to learn.

At Fairisle Infant & Nursery School, our Science curriculum is designed to develop the children’s ability to work scientifically and increase their vocabulary and understanding of the world. We aim to give our children practical, investigative opportunities, which encourage children to become independent learners with enquiring minds. We aim to provide a high-quality Science curriculum, which will cultivate children's enjoyment of and passion for science by providing a wide variety of practical and 'hands on' scientific learning, both in the classroom and outside. Throughout their time at Fairisle, all children will confidently explore and discover the world around them from EYFS to Year 2.

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

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
• develop 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.
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.

Implementation

At Fairisle Infant & Nursery School, scientific knowledge is taught explicitly in our Science lessons. In KS1, every lesson has an element of scientific enquiry developing one or more working scientific skill. Children are given the opportunity to observe, explore and answer their own questions. Children are able to conduct an investigation where they can apply their knowledge and a range of scientific skills.

In EYFS, children are given the opportunity to explore Science through play. Children discover the world around them through observations, first hand experiences and investigations. Within Early Years, children have the ability to explore the natural environment around them so they can experience similarities, differences, patterns and change in nature in addition to making observations of animals and plants. In EYFS, the children conduct investigations through STEM learning to help them understand the big ideas and concepts. During a STEM lesson, the children build on their Characteristics of Effective Learning as they ask, imagine, plan, create, test and improve.

In Year 1, children continue to build on the skills learned in Early Years. At Fairisle, we strongly focus on ‘Working Scientifically’ – whereby children are using their investigative skills to question, test, observe and explain to develop the skills learnt in EYFS. During Year 1, children will learn about Plants, Animals (including Humans), Uses of Everyday Materials and Seasonal Changes. The children conduct a long-term investigation to observe the weather across the year where they can identify the changes in the environment.

In Year 2, children enhance their ‘Working scientifically’ skills and become more independent with planning investigations. Children are given the opportunity to plan their own group investigations, with the plant of their choice, to identify how much water a plant needs to stay healthy over a period of time. During Year 2, they will look at Plants, Animals (including Humans), Uses of Everyday Materials and Living Things and their Habitats. These areas of Science are taught through our topics and will involve investigations such as designing a treasure chest strong enough to hold the pirates treasure.