At Kirby Hill Church of England Primary School, our Science curriculum is guided by our Christian vision that “All things are possible for one who believes”, and is deeply rooted in our ACHIEVE curriculum drivers:
• Aspire
• Challenge
• Honour every individual
• Inspire curiosity and creativity
• Embed strong values
• Value community and global connections
• Empower through knowledge
Using the National Curriculum, our intent is to aspire for all children to become confident, enquiring scientists who are not afraid to take risks and think innovatively. We challenge pupils to think critically and solve real-world problems through hands-on learning, ideation, and reflection.
Our curriculum honours every individual, ensuring that Science is inclusive, accessible and relevant to all learners regardless of starting point or background. It aims to inspire curiosity and creativity, helping children to explore how science affects our lives and shapes our understanding of the world we live in.
We embed strong values - such as resilience, responsibility, and compassion -through collaborative work and self-reflection. Our Christian Value for this subject is Honesty. In science we raise questions and gather and record our findings in an unbiased way, allowing us to develop a clearer understanding of the world we live in.
Through links to local industry, heritage and environmental issues, we value our community and wider world, giving children real purpose for their learning. By building technical vocabulary, modelling techniques, and encouraging iterative improvement, we empower pupils with the skills, confidence and self-belief to flourish - in school and in life.
Our curriculum allows pupils to develop knowledge of biology, chemistry and physics, together with a broad range of working scientifically skills. Learning is inclusive and meaningful, so all pupils can experience the enjoyment and reward of science lessons whilst developing a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. Children are encouraged to make links between their science learning and life outside the classroom and understand the scientific community’s contribution to our past, present and future.
In summary, at Kirby Hill School, we aim to develop:
• The acquisition biology, chemistry and physics knowledge, alongside scientific skills.
• Curiosity and excitement about the world around us and natural phenomena.
• Pupils’ ability to challenge misconceptions and demystify truths.
• Progression of practical and investigative skills over time.
• The ability to ask perceptive questions and explain and analyse evidence.
• Scientific literacy using wide-ranging, specialist vocabulary.

To meet the aims of the National Curriculum in a broad and meaningful way, Kirby Hill identifies three key strands:

• Scientific knowledge and understanding of:
- biology: living organisms and vital processes;
- chemistry: matter and its properties;
- physics: how the world we live in ‘works’.

• Working scientifically: processes and methods of science to answer questions about the world around us. As per the National Curriculum guidance, working scientifically (WS) skills are integrated with conceptual understanding rather than taught discretely to provide frequent but relevant opportunities for developing scientific enquiry skills.

• Science in action: uses and impact of science and scientists in the past, present and future. Important scientists are identified across all of the key areas, offering opportunities for ‘science in action’ work. We also take the opportunity to build on the work of some famous scientists, using the ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ resource.

The National curriculum content has been grouped into six key areas of science to show progression throughout the school:
Plants.
Animals, including humans.
Living things and habitats.
Materials.
Energy.
Forces, Earth and space.

• Pupils explore knowledge and conceptual understanding through engaging activities and an introduction to relevant, specialist vocabulary which is highlighted at the planning stage.
• In EYFS, pupils build a solid foundation for science before transitioning to Key Stage One. Through well thought opportunities for purposeful activities with high quality language–rich adult-pupil interactions, pupils have an early appreciation for the natural environment, paving the way for more structured scientific learning in Key Stage One.
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• In Key Stages One and Two, science is taught discretely for one afternoon per week, reflecting its importance as a core subject. Pupils are given regular opportunities to carry out the five types of scientific enquiry - observing over time; fair/comparative testing; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; researching (which includes visits and visitors.
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• Science units in KS1 and KS2 are planned using the school planning template, taking account of and checking relevant prior knowledge from earlier in the curriculum and adapted to take account of pupils’ pre-assessments.
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• At least once per term, to further develop children’s enquiry skills, pupils carry out a complete child-initiated enquiry -from generating their own questions, to creating science enquiries to answer them then recording and sharing their findings with others. At least once per term, TAPS assessment lessons are used as a self-moderation of working scientifically skills.
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• Cross-curricular links are developed when possible and skills from other subjects, such as maths, are encouraged.