Woodside Academy has made science a key subject in our curriculum. This means that this is taught weekly by class teachers. Our intention for science is to ensure that there is a natural progression in their learning through the topics they are taught. We follow the 2014 National Curriculum to ensure that each year they will be taught new skills and build on their previous scientific knowledge. We will also be including an Eco topic for each year group to follow to extend the children’s understanding of the world around them.
By the end of their primary education we aim to ensure that all children can:
• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics
• develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them
• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future implement.
At Woodside Academy our vision is to inspire children in science; to ignite their curiosity and encourage them to ask questions about the world around them. Science will be taught in a range of ways and in line with the new lines of enquiry in the National Curriculum. We will be getting children to:
Our science curriculum offers a broad range of experiences designed to provide pupils with a progression of scientific understanding, skills and knowledge. It will develop transferable skills such as communication, questioning, observations, team work and pattern seeking. It can lead to the development of skills in a range of subjects such as Computing, D&T and maths. To deepen their understanding we will show our science lessons by using:
All of our lessons will be adhering to our new science principles. These have been discussed and agreed by staff and the children are aware of these principles.
At the end of their primary education we hope to have educated them well enough so that they are able to make informed decisions about the world around them e.g. their health, how their body works, how some of the world around them develops and to be able to seize scientific opportunities around them.
Science Ambassadors
As part of our progression and to challenge our high attainers in Science we have employed a Science Ambassador from each class from year 2 upwards. The Science Ambassadors have been picked due to their inquisitiveness and eagerness in science. They will be challenged to help others in class, to use their scientific knowledge to help plan investigations with their peers and to help resource the lessons. They will also have regular meetings with the science subject lead to discuss ideas on how to improve science teaching across the year groups. Science Ambassadors get to choose our Scientist of the Month for each class.
Science Club
Science club will be by invitation only for Science Ambassadors in Autumn term and will be held on a Wednesday after school. It your child has an interest in science, please contact the office or email lauren.mcinerney@woodsideacademy.org if you wish for your child to go on the waiting list for the spring or summer term science club. This is a free club but was oversubscribed last year and we would love to offer places to children who have not yet attended. During this time, the Science Ambassadors will get to experience a range of technologies, investigations and STEM inquiries. Every week, we will try to meet to discuss our findings and research. We will be making this cross curricular by testing out different apps on the iPads for computing or designing and engineering different models for design and technology.
Science week
Science Week 2023 was a fantastic success with our first ever Science Fair! All classes spent science week carrying our investigation of their choice and presented these in both a visual and practical representation.
Science Ambassadors then talked to other classes and to parents after school explaining their findings.
We look forward to hosting Science Fair 2024 next year. We will keep you posted on dates!
Working with other schools and agencies
Over the next year we will be developing our links with other schools and discussing and sharing ideas for science. We have also worked with Brentwood School on the science exhibition and this was a fantastic success. Congratulations to all of the children who participated! We look forward to working with Brentwood School again in the future.
The science subject lead is Miss McInerney.