"During my lessons, I actually feel like a Scientist!"

Cole, Year 6

Science at Codnor Primary School reflects our vision, “Let your light shine”, by nurturing curiosity, confidence and a lifelong interest in understanding the world around us. Our science curriculum provides pupils with a strong foundation of scientific knowledge and skills, enabling them to develop a clear understanding of scientific processes and the role science plays in the modern world, both now and in the future.

Scientific enquiry skills are embedded within each unit of learning and are deliberately revisited and developed throughout pupils’ time at school to support retention and make learning ‘sticky’. Pupils are taught to think, speak and act like scientists by observing closely, asking questions, planning and carrying out investigations, analysing results and drawing conclusions. Specialist scientific vocabulary is explicitly taught and built upon over time to enable pupils to articulate their understanding with increasing accuracy and confidence.

Through this carefully sequenced and engaging curriculum, pupils are encouraged to develop their natural curiosity and fascination with the world around them. They are supported to explain scientific phenomena, make predictions, explore cause and effect and test ideas through practical investigation. This approach empowers pupils to let their light shine as inquisitive, reflective learners who are well prepared for future scientific learning and life beyond the classroom.

Aims:

• The ability to think independently and raise questions about working scientifically and the knowledge and skills that it brings. 
• Confidence and competence in the full range of practical skills, taking the initiative in, for example, planning and carrying out scientific investigations. 
• Excellent scientific knowledge and understanding which is demonstrated in written and verbal explanations, solving challenging problems and reporting scientific findings.
• High levels of originality, imagination or innovation in the application of skills.
• The ability to undertake practical work in a variety of contexts, including fieldwork.
• A passion for science and its application in past, present and future technologies.

Through sequences of lessons and topics, pupils' scientific knowledge, understanding and skills are built, reinforced, and transferred into other contexts, allowing children to deepen their understanding and remember what they learn.

Our pupils leave Codnor Primary School with the knowledge to think, act, and speak like a scientist, and they value the transference of these skills into their everyday life, in education and beyond.

How Science looks at Codnor:

Science objective progression:

The National Curriciulum Science objectives are followed by each year group and are mapped out on the document below.

Science knowledge progression:

Disciplinary knowledge in Science is deliberately planned and sequenced within and across year groups so that key scientific concepts are revisited, developed and secured over time, enabling learning to become embedded and ‘sticky’. This coherent and cumulative approach ensures pupils build the subject-specific knowledge and skills required to think, work and communicate like scientists, including observing, questioning, investigating and drawing conclusions. Through this rigorous and thoughtfully designed science curriculum, pupils are empowered to let their light shine as curious, confident learners who are well prepared for future scientific learning and life beyond the classroom.

Science medium term plans:

Science at Codnor Primary School is carefully planned and coherently structured to ensure a well-sequenced curriculum that supports pupils to build knowledge and skills over time. Subject leaders ensure that the science curriculum is ambitious, appropriate and well planned for each year group, with clearly defined end points that build systematically on what pupils have already been taught and learned. Medium-term plans demonstrate how the science curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced so that pupils develop scientific knowledge and skills sequentially and cumulatively. They also map out the substantive and disciplinary knowledge which builds over a sequence of lessons.

                 KS1                                 Y3                                  Y4                                   Y5                                  Y6

The golden threads of Science:

In Science at Codnor Primary School, golden threads are identified key scientific concepts and themes that run throughout the curriculum. These threads are deliberately revisited at different points in each pupil’s journey through the school, enabling pupils to make meaningful connections between scientific ideas and deepen their understanding over time. Revisiting these concepts supports knowledge retention, helping learning to become secure and ‘sticky’, while strengthening pupils’ ability to think, work and communicate like scientists.

The document below maps out the golden threads of science and shows how they are explicitly taught and revisited across year groups, ensuring a coherent, cumulative and well-sequenced curriculum that helps our pupils to “Let their light shine” as young scientists. 

Pupil Voice:

Gallery:

Year 6 pupils investigating their own lines of enquiry in their Science topic of light!

Pupils really got into the 'mad scientist day!'

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