At Upperby Primary School we aim to develop our pupils as scientists, we want them to enjoy the subject and remember the exciting science in school.   We aim to ensure that our pupils recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of their daily lives and understand the range of different career opportunities that use science skills.  We aim to increase their knowledge and understanding of our world, developing the skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry and endeavour to provide them with the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills. By developing their natural curiosity, we encourage respect for living organisms and the physical environment and provide opportunities to be reflective and critical of evidence.  

At Upperby Primary School, we use a mixture of resources, including the Developing Experts scheme to plan lessons and ensure all children learn and retain knowledge throughout the programme of study.  Our intention for vocabulary in science is to expose all pupils to year group-specific language taken from our school’s knowledge and skills progression document.  Pupils will be expected to use the vocabulary both verbally and in written form to discuss, reason and communicate about science.   

All our lessons contain a balance of the different ‘Working Scientifically Skills’ and ‘Scientific Enquiry’ types, so that children practise a broad range of skills throughout the curriculum. We promote the importance of an investigative approach through regular ‘hands-on’ experiences, including taking our learning outdoors to make the most of our local area.  We aim to integrate Science across the curriculum, linking themes from other topics or organised days, events and trips to the subject. 

Children work scientifically during lessons and work collaboratively, developing skills and investigating different concepts and ideas.  This encourages resilience, determination, perseverance, communication, collaboration and questioning.  We mix the content knowledge and investigation skills needed to solve science problems and make decisions and predictions based on what they have learnt.  Our lessons also allow our pupils to practise their Mathematics and English whilst developing their reasoning and problem-solving skills. By linking Science concepts to everyday life, our pupils can understand the world around them in a scientific way.  This will enable pupils to have transferable skills across other subject disciplines, without impacting on the collection of specific scientific knowledge and skills, ensuring that pupils retain knowledge that will readily prepare them for secondary school.

Children’s engagement is seen in their enthusiasm for learning. They take pride in their work and demonstrate good learning behaviours in school. Children enjoy their learning and this is reflected in good attendance. Children understand where their knowledge fits into the outside world and why it is important to learn about all the different areas of the curriculum. They are able to demonstrate knowledge through pupil voice and also across wider subjects.  Children are able to articulate themselves using acquired vocabulary from across the curriculum. Children are able to apply their scientific enquiry skills to solve new problems and explain how and why they solved them.