At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, our Science curriculum aims to develop curious, knowledgeable and confident young scientists who are excited to explore, question and understand the world around them.

Drawing upon the Grammarsaurus Primary Science curriculum and the National Curriculum, we provide a broad, ambitious and carefully sequenced curriculum in which scientific knowledge and the skills of scientific enquiry develop progressively from the Early Years through to Year 6.

We want children to understand that science is not simply a collection of facts to remember. It is a way of asking questions, investigating ideas, gathering evidence and using that evidence to develop explanations. Pupils are encouraged to be curious, to notice patterns, to ask thoughtful questions and to recognise that scientific understanding develops through observation, investigation and evidence.

Our curriculum develops pupils' substantive knowledge across biology, chemistry and physics alongside their disciplinary knowledge of working scientifically. Children progressively learn how scientists observe, classify, compare, measure, investigate, record, analyse, conclude and evaluate.

We place particular importance on developing children's scientific vocabulary and their ability to communicate scientific ideas accurately. Pupils are encouraged to explain their thinking, justify conclusions and use evidence when discussing what they have observed.

Where appropriate, children make connections between science and their own lives, their local environment and the wider world. As a Catholic school, we encourage pupils to approach the natural world with wonder, respect and responsibility, recognising our shared responsibility to care for creation.

Our Science curriculum is ambitious and inclusive. Practical experiences, explicit teaching, careful modelling, appropriate scaffolding and opportunities for repetition enable all pupils, including those with SEND, to participate meaningfully and experience success.

Science is taught through a progressive and coherently sequenced curriculum drawing upon Grammarsaurus, ensuring that important knowledge, vocabulary and scientific skills are introduced at appropriate points and deliberately revisited so that understanding becomes increasingly secure and sophisticated.

From the Early Years, children are encouraged to observe their surroundings, explore materials, notice changes, investigate living things and ask questions about the world. These early experiences provide foundations upon which increasingly formal scientific concepts are developed throughout Key Stages 1 and 2.

Teaching combines explicit instruction with purposeful practical investigation. Teachers introduce and model important scientific concepts and vocabulary before providing opportunities for children to apply their knowledge through observation, exploration and enquiry.

Pupils progressively develop knowledge across the key scientific disciplines, including plants, animals including humans, living things and their habitats, materials, rocks, states of matter, forces and magnets, sound, electricity, light, Earth and space and evolution and inheritance.

Working Scientifically

Working scientifically is embedded throughout our Science curriculum rather than taught as a separate element. Children are progressively taught to:

• ask relevant scientific questions and recognise questions that can be investigated;
• make careful observations and use appropriate equipment;
• classify and group according to observable characteristics;
• make predictions using prior scientific knowledge;
• plan and carry out increasingly systematic investigations;
• understand and identify variables where appropriate;
• take accurate measurements using standard units;
• record findings using drawings, diagrams, tables, charts and graphs;
• identify patterns and relationships within results;
• use evidence to draw conclusions;
• communicate findings using appropriate scientific vocabulary; and
• evaluate investigations and suggest possible improvements.

As pupils progress through school, they take increasing responsibility for selecting appropriate methods, making decisions about investigations and interpreting the evidence they collect.

Scientific vocabulary is explicitly taught, modelled and revisited. Teachers encourage children to speak and write scientifically, moving from everyday descriptions towards increasingly precise scientific explanations.

Retrieval practice and questioning are used to revisit important prior knowledge and help children make connections between concepts. Teachers identify misconceptions and address these explicitly so that pupils build secure and accurate scientific understanding.

Practical investigations are carefully selected to deepen scientific understanding, rather than existing as isolated activities. Wherever possible, children encounter science in meaningful contexts through their school grounds, local environment and real-world applications.

Children also learn about significant scientists and scientific discoveries, including individuals from different backgrounds, cultures and periods of history. This helps pupils understand science as an evolving discipline shaped by questioning, discovery, collaboration and innovation.

Assessment is used formatively throughout teaching to identify what pupils know, where misconceptions remain and what needs to be revisited. This enables teachers to adapt teaching and provide additional support or challenge where appropriate.

By the end of their time at St Joseph’s, pupils will have developed a secure and connected body of scientific knowledge and will be able to draw upon this knowledge when encountering new questions, concepts and phenomena.

Children will confidently use scientific vocabulary to describe processes, communicate their understanding and explain their reasoning. Rather than simply recalling isolated facts, pupils will increasingly be able to make connections between scientific concepts and apply their knowledge in unfamiliar contexts.

As young scientists, pupils will be able to ask meaningful questions and select increasingly appropriate ways of investigating them. They will observe carefully, measure accurately, identify patterns, record and present findings and use evidence to reach reasoned conclusions.

Children will understand the importance of fair testing, accuracy, evidence and evaluation and recognise that scientific conclusions should be based upon evidence rather than assumption.

Pupils will demonstrate curiosity and resilience when an investigation produces unexpected results. They will understand that an unexpected outcome provides an opportunity to question, reconsider and investigate further.

Children will also understand that science has a significant impact upon everyday life and the future of our world. They will recognise how scientific knowledge contributes to developments in medicine, technology, engineering, sustainability and our understanding of the natural world.

Through studying scientists and discoveries from a range of backgrounds, pupils will understand that science is for everyone and that scientific understanding continues to change and develop.

Ultimately, children will leave St Joseph’s as curious, informed and responsible learners who are confident asking questions about the world around them and equipped with the knowledge and skills to investigate possible answers.

They will appreciate the beauty and complexity of the natural world and recognise their responsibility to care for it, reflecting our Catholic values and our mission:

Fidelis in Servitio – Faithful in Service.