Our Science Curriculum
Our Science curriculum is designed to help children build a strong “science schema” — a secure and connected understanding of scientific ideas that stays with them over time. It also supports pupils in meeting the goals set out in our Science Milestone Progression document (see below).
Our approach follows a simple model:
- Breadth of study
The wide range of scientific topics and experiences children will explore across biology, chemistry and physics.
- Threshold concepts
These are the “big ideas” that run through children’s Science learning in every year:
- Working Scientifically
- Biology
- To understand plants
- To understand animals and humans
- To investigate living things
- To understand evolution and inheritance
- Chemistry
- To investigate materials
- Physics
- To understand the Earth’s movement in space
- To understand light and seeing
- To understand electrical circuits
- To understand movement, forces and magnets
- To investigate sound and hearing
- Milestones
The key goals that show children are successfully securing and deepening their scientific understanding.
How we help children to achieve a depth of understanding in Science
One of the biggest challenges in science is giving children enough meaningful repetition to truly deepen their understanding.
Rather than aiming simply to ‘cover everything,’ we focus on advancing and deepening understanding — giving children repeated, connected learning experiences that help ideas stick.
We do this by:
- Making clear links between science and other subjects, allowing children to revisit scientific ideas in different contexts and making more efficient use of learning time.
- Using continuous provision wherever possible to reinforce essential foundations or even replace stand-alone lessons when appropriate. This ensures that key skills and knowledge are practised often, not just once.
