Science

The Southfield Science Curriculum seeks to foster a love of the natural world in children and balance natural curiosity of the world through structured science with a passion for wildlife and science in the natural world. We are extensively designing our pond and wildlife area for pupils to exploit this space for discovery and science work.

Over the last two years, we have been extensively designing our pond and wildlife area for pupils to exploit this space for discovery and science work. Our new Science outdoor learning area boasts a weather station, bug hotel, investigation station and a variety of task boards hanging in and around the space. The pond has been redesigned for easier access, meaning we will be able to keep a close eye on the frogs and newts that call our pond home and examine them at different stages of their lifecycles.

We seek to foster high-quality science education which 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, and children learn the fundamental aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

Our science aims to ensure that children:

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.

Pupils should be able to describe associated processes and key characteristics in common language, but they should also be familiar with, and use, technical terminology accurately and precisely. Children build up an extended specialist vocabulary. They also apply their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data. The social and economic implications of science are important but, generally, they are taught most appropriately within the wider school curriculum: teachers will wish to use different contexts to maximise their pupils’ engagement with and motivation to study science.

Science weeks where pupils are able to contextualise their understanding in practical ways and support children to understand the work of famous scientists.

We were also accredited with the Primary Science Quality Mark which exemplifies our superb Science curriculum offering at Southfield.