Science
When teaching Science at Fairfield, we aim to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically. We want children to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, in the past, today and for the future. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged.
Within our curriculum, topics are revisited and developed throughout children’s time at school. Topics, such as Plants, are taught in Key Stage One and studied again in further detail throughout Key Stage Two. This model allows children to build on their prior knowledge and increases their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding this knowledge into the long-term memory.
At Fairfield, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic. All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Whilst working scientifically, pupils will focus on specific scientific types of enquiry, so that they learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.
We have also taken great care at Fairfield to ensure the curriculum is structured so that any scientific learning that would enrich or enhance teaching and learning in other subjects, takes place at an appropriate time. An example of this can be found in Year 4 where children learn about the water cycle as part of their learning on ‘States of Matter’ before looking at rivers in Geography. Furthermore, children learn about how animals adapt to their environments as part of their learning on ‘Evolution and Inheritance’ in Year 6 but have already learnt about climate zones and biomes in Geography in earlier year groups and so can make clear links between the two.