At St. Andrew’s, we believe that every child is entitled to a creative, challenging and captivating curriculum that equips them for today and tomorrow. (See our Curriculum Statement https://www.st-andrews.notts.sch.uk/curriculum/ ). 

Intent

For us, the Scientific area of learning is concerned with increasing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of our world, and with developing skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry. It will develop the natural curiosity of the child, encourage respect for living organisms and the physical environment  through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics whilst supporting the Fundamental British Values.

At St Andrew's, we aim for our children to have a love of science. We want them to acquire and then secure knowledge and transferable skills that are progressively embedded from the very beginning of their learning journey and into later life. 

Implementation

At the start of each new topic, class teachers provide wow moments linked to real life contexts to engage the children’s minds and evoke critical thinking when questioned on their existing knowledge and what they want to find out. Each learning sequence is carefully planned to ensure the relevant key features of scientific enquiry have been taught: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing; and researching using secondary sources, and careful modelling of key scientific vocabulary has been used throughout.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is that we aim for our children to achieve their full potential in science and marvel at the awe and wonder of how science emulates throughout every aspect of our daily lives. We want the children to recall the rich learning experiences they have been provided with and know that each new taught concept provides a new, or builds on an existing, learning block. We want our children to think critically, ask questions and use their metacognitive learning skills. Our children know to persevere and embrace challenge and as a result, enjoy their Eureka moment of success!