Science

At Bywell, we believe that a high-quality science education provides the fundamental foundations for understanding the world. Our children will learn as scientists, where they will question and investigate. We strive to excite and engage children through our hands-on science curriculum, and extend their knowledge through application and reasoning, promoting endurance and collaboration throughout lessons.  It is our intention to develop in all young people a lifelong curiosity and interest in the sciences and for children to learn and grow together throughout their time at Bywell Junior School. When planning for the science curriculum, we intend for children to have the opportunity, wherever possible, to learn through varied systematic investigations, leading to them being equipped for life to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them. All children have the right to learn regardless of their background or ability in a safe, friendly and happy environment, this is something that in science all children are able to do.  As children progress through the year groups, they build on their skills in working scientifically, as well as on their scientific knowledge. They develop greater independence in planning and carrying out fair and comparative tests to answer a range of scientific questions, allowing them the opportunities to demonstrate Bywell core values of Peace, Endurance, Compassion, Justice and Friendship. The Science scheme of work ensures that children have a varied, progressive and well-mapped-out science curriculum that provides the opportunity for progression across the full breadth of the science national curriculum for KS2. Topics and progression are informed by the National Curriculum, with scientific skills taught alongside the knowledge.

• The science leader is confident that all the National Curriculum objectives are being taught and there is clear progression throughout each year group.
• Science is taught weekly throughout the year by the class teacher, allowing children the opportunities for gaining knowledge and practical experiences of using scientific methods, processes and skills.
• Children will revisit what they have learned throughout lessons and during different parts of the academic years, through the use of science memory quizzes.
• Medium term plans have been rewritten and quality assured by the science lead.
• Science is displayed in classrooms through the use of working walls and are referred to during lessons to ensure they are purposeful to the children. Photographs of working walls are kept as evidence.
• The wider leadership team, including the science lead will implement book looks throughout the year to ensure consistency and progression.
• Science taster sessions were held at one of the infant feeder schools to year 2 children (before they joined Bywell). They were led by Stem leaders at the end of the Summer term.

• Memeory quizzes have been used throughout the year groups. The leadership team completed a book scrutiny of these books in January and identified that progress had been made.
• Working walls have been used more effectively within classrooms, as they support children’s learning. Photographs of these are saved on the shared drive where the subject leader can access them. Below is an example of a year 4 science working wall. Vocabulary is displayed, prompts to help children and reference to language used on the memory quiz.

• Book looks were carried out in February 2023, generally this was positive. Feedback was given to teachers at a staff meeting on 15.02.23, with regards to explicitly displaying working scientifically in books and excessive the use of worksheets.
• Pupil voice questionnaires were conducted with selected children (pupil premium), below is an example of the questions that were asked. The data was shared with teachers on 15.02.23. One of the key findings was that pupils wanted to take part in more practical work through experiments. To address this, after school clubs were run by teachers during Summer 2.

• There has been a change in subject leadership for Science. This new lead will need to become familiar with science curriculum, resources, teaching and learning across the school.
• A handover meeting was conducted with previous science lead.
• Science is now taught weekly as opposed to the block approach that was taken last academic year.
• An initial audit of science resources was carried out on 28.09.23.

• Pupil voice interviews were conducted. One SEND, LA, MA, HA child from each class were asked to take part. Children had discussion in a group environment and were very happy to speak about their Science learning, memory quizzes and activites. Conversations with pupils show that science is being accessed regularly and the children have a positive attitude towards the subject.
• A review of Spring 1 memory quizzes and memory games for each year group has been completed. Ensuring that the number of questions are appropriate for children. Checking that vocabulary is accesible for children, including SEND children.

• Children were given the opportunity to immerse themselves in British Science Week (8^th-17^th March) activities. BSW was introduced in an assembly, in which a poster competition was launched based on the theme of ‘Time’ (which many children participated in). Class teachers were encouraged to take part in a BBC live lesson, to further engage the children. An external ‘Silly Science’ workshop was organized over a day and a half, all year groups had the opportunity to take part in interactive and fun science experiments, which the children enjoyed.
• Science topics are on display around the school to showcase children’s work.
• Spring 2 and Summer 1 quizzes and memory games were updated.

Next Steps:

• Collect science work from displays to add to floor books to enable the subject leader to maintain an overview of learning and progression of science.
• Review the impact of vocabulary sheets used in Spring.
• Update memory quizzes for all topics.

• A review of the impact of Science memory quizzes was conducted. Generally, most pupils make progress between the pre topic and post topic quiz. There was evidence to suggest that pupils have limited knowledge of the topic if it has been introduced for the first time. Alternatively, if there has been a period of time since they have accessed the topic (for example Year 4 and Year 6 electricity topics) quiz scores are lower in the pre topic quiz than they are at the end of the topic, where many pupils achieve a high score or full marks on the quiz.
• I have seen good practice where staff have identified pupils, who achieve the same score or less on both pre and post topic quizzes, by highlighting them in red. This does raise the question about why these children are not making progress: are memory games being played each lesson to support pupil’s knowledge. Are explicit references being made or are explanations given with regards to key scientific vocabulary, during a lesson to aid the pupil’s recall, including vocabulary on working walls? Are children given the opportunity to revisit the pre test and make corrections based on learning of the week?
• A review was done on the impact of vocabulary sheets introduced in Spring 2. Feedback suggests that it was not as impactful as intended, as not all children recorded definitions clearly or with enough detail, therefore they will not be introduced.
• Science work from across the year groups has been collated into a floor book.

• Ensure staff are aware that memory quizzes tracking is collected in one place: New staff shared – Curriculum – Memory Quizzes – Memory Quiz Tracking 2023-24 – Year X – New Learning
• Update Autumn quizzes ready for September
• To organize a staff training to review planning with a focus on provision for SEND children.