Science Intent

At St John XXIII we deliver a knowledge rich and balanced curriculum accessible to all. The learning sequence maximises opportunities for all children to increase their knowledge and understanding of our world, developing skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry. Our curriculum offering prepares our children for success in their next step in education and provides all children with Science Capital so that their learning relates to their personal experiences, communities and interests.

Throughout the year, children increase their understanding of the world and develop a natural curiosity and recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of daily life.

It is our intent that children become procedurally fluent scientists by the end of KS2, before embarking into KS3.

At St John XXIII it is our intent to ensure children have access to an ambitious and broad curriculum that all can access so that they will:

• be good communicators- we provide opportunities for children to share their love of science by reading aloud in class during lessons and the science bag, and assemblies.
• be enthusiastic, lifelong learners we develop in pupils a love of science, recognising the importance of science in daily life that will not only support their learning across the curriculum, but also extend beyond the classroom environment and enrich their lives, equipping them with knowledge to be procedurally fluent scientists. We explicitly teach working scientifically skills throughout the key stages to continually develop children’s understanding.
• understand how to keep themselves safe and be respectful in their communities we expose the children to challenging concepts, different cultures and ways of life through investigations and curriculum content teaching them to value and celebrate diversity in culture and language
• develop their God given talents to use what they have learnt as scientists to influence their writing and speaking and their confidence, desire and ability to express their views and opinions both orally and in writing
• be independent, resilient learners who enjoy challenges we expose children to a range of challenge through investigations and questioning (age appropriate) and develop their ability to be persistent and collaborate
• develop their emotional maturity and resilience, with strategies for how to manage their emotional and mental well-being we encourage children to investigate in group working environments where they learn to work alongside many different personality types and work ethics. Through the use of respect, understanding, support and emotional maturity, these working dynamics are successful and allow for the children to exercise tolerance and resilience. Children are also trusted to work with Science equipment across the curriculum due to their emotional maturity.

In addition, we intend to contribute towards Science Capital required to be successful learners in wider life. SC has been identified as knowledge useful to our lives as it is personalised for our personal experiences and interests. This powerful knowledge is taught through recognising:

• scientific literacy - understanding of science and how it works.
• science related attitudes - values and dispositions and extent of seeing science as relevant to everyday life.
• transferability - understanding a broad application of science skills apply to a wide range of jobs not just in science fields.
• media consumption - extent of related TV, books and engagement online.
• out-of-school participation - museums, fairs, talk of science in everyday life and knowing people in science roles.

Reading, Writing and Maths is prioritised in Science through:

• knowledge organisers, key vocabulary, research projects, subject specific texts and children are encouraged to read and edit their peers’ work.
• different literacy types ranging from explanation texts, formal investigation reports to reflective responses to results.
• data collection, conversion calculations, displaying data (graphing/tables etc.)