Science at Highgate Primary School

 Our Vision for Science

Science at Highgate Primary School will harness children’s natural curiosity, nurture their confidence, equip them with the skills and knowledge to investigate the world around them and empower children to both make sense of our world and believe they can change it for the better.

Our Principles for Teaching and Learning in 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.

At Highgate Primary School, we believe that children learn science best when:

• they investigate, through hands on experience, questions they create for themselves
• teaching challenges preconceptions and encourages children to test what they know
• lessons stimulate high quality conversations about what children have observed
• learning is relevant to the children’s everyday lives
• lessons proactively engage the children’s analytical thinking and teach them new skills​
• lessons are well planned and well resourced, but leave space for surprises

Within our curriculum, all pupils are taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They are encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

Science at Highgate Primary School is based on the national curriculum for science and 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

The nature, processes and methods of science

Within the science curriculum, children are taught to work scientifically. Pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions. These types of scientific enquiry include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); and researching using secondary sources. Pupils are supported and encouraged to seek answers to questions through collecting, analysing and presenting data.

Scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding

The science curriculum at Highgate Primary School describes the sequence of knowledge and concepts that children learn. The curriculum is planned to support children to develop a secure understanding of each key block of knowledge and concepts in order to progress to the next stage.

At Highgate Primary School, teachers use high quality and proven resources to support lesson planning and assessment in science, including PLAN Assessment and Explorify.

We were awarded the Primary Science Quality Mark in September 2022.

Science Curriculum by Year Group

Nursery Science Curriculum

Reception Science Curriculum

Year 1 Science Curriculum

Year 2 Science Curriculum

Year 3 Science Curriculum

Year 4 Science Curriculum

Year 5 Science Curriculum

Year 6 Science Curriculum