Curriculum Intention:

Our science curriculum reflects the need to stimulate and excite pupils’ curiosity about phenomena and events in the world around them. We aim to deliver a broad, practical, challenging and explorative curriculum which caters to a wide range of pupils’ needs. The curriculum is clearly planned and organised to ensure progression across year groups.

Curriculum Implementation:

Science is taught in either a one or two week block, dependent on the topic. The aim is to build knowledge and understanding clearly and quickly. In addition to both practical and theoretical lessons about a topic, pupils are encouraged to carry out their own research at home and school, reflecting their specific personal interests. This ensures they have ownership of the topic, furthering their engagement with the curriculum. Teachers make links between science and other topics to heighten the relevance of science in the world. Topic boxes containing physical resources support different topics and school trips bring topics to life and add to understanding. For instance, the Year 5 trip to the Science Museum reinforced the children's understanding of the Space and Forces topics and Year 4 visit to the Wonderlab to was to gain a valuable 'hands on' science experience and to bring science alive.

During Science Week, pupils will deepen their science understanding during our Annual ‘Science Week’ which is linked to British Science Week. Every year, there is a new focus for the week and classes carry out activities around this topic. Each class is given a Blue Sky Thinker class scientist to find out about. These Thinkers are from a diverse range of cultures. The aim is that through their time at Woodridge, they will learn about scientists from a range of disciplines and backgrounds. There is also often the opportunity for science visitors to deliver workshops about science topics that may not be studied in the curriculum. For instance, CSI and Slime Making workshops.

During science week the whole school takes part in science activities and presents what they have learned at the end of the week during a school assembly. Over the past few years, Woodridge has been part of a group of local schools called ‘Mag 7’. We have worked together to organise joint science week activities.

Big Blue Question examples:

'To keep healthy, what’s more important - being clean, eating well or doing exercise?’

'Which of our senses is the most important?'

'Would you rather be a fish, a reptile, a mammal or a bird?'

Blue Sky Thinkers:

Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Alexander Grahame Bell, Mary Anning, Charles Darwin, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Diversity:

Dian Fossey, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson.

Science Subject Leader - Ms Sarah McCleneghen