The Science Curriculum at St Thomas

At St Thomas’ we deliver an ambitious, knowledge-based Science curriculum that aims to inspire pupils’ curiosity and equip them with the foundations for understanding the world through a scientific lens. Pupils will be encouraged to use the knowledge they learn in Science and apply it to investigations that test a theory or set out to answer a question.

Excellence is displayed through our Science curriculum through the high standards of teaching and learning. Staff are equipped with specific subject knowledge to teach quality Science lessons.

Experiences and Life Skills

Science enriches children’s learning and enables them to create a sense of awe and wonder about the world around them. Through many scientific activities and experiments, children have the opportunity to practice vital skills such as: gather information, record data, graph data and interpret their findings. These are essential skills that pupils will apply to new contexts as they work through the curriculum.

Celebrate Diversity

Children will learn about influential scientists during their time at St Thomas’. Each year group will study one key scientist in depth and discover the work of many more through a variety of scientific topics. We believe it is important that children discover the work of scientists in history and modern day and of different cultures and gender.

Christian Values

Our vision statement, ‘Let your Light Shine’, reflects our belief that every child is uniquely created and deeply valued as part of God’s creation. Through our Lighthouse Curriculum, we aim to nurture, support and inspire each pupil so that they can discover their God-given gifts, develop their individuality and flourish in their learning, actions and relationships.

As a Church of England school, our Christian vision and values underpin all areas of the curriculum, including Science. Through the teaching of Science, pupils are encouraged to develop a sense of awe, wonder and respect for the natural world as part of God’s creation. Learning opportunities enable children to explore and understand the world around them while reflecting on their responsibility to care for it.

Pupils are encouraged to consider local/global environmental issues and to recognise how their choices and actions can contribute to caring for the Earth. This supports the development of stewardship, responsibility and respect for creation. Within Science lessons, children are also encouraged to work collaboratively, share resources thoughtfully and demonstrate responsibility in their learning, reflecting our commitment to living out our Christian values in everyday practice.

Reading and Vocabulary

Reading and vocabulary is at the heart of all subjects at St Thomas’. Science lessons follow a structure that allows time for explicitly teaching new vocabulary (STAR words) at the beginning of every lesson. They will be challenged to learn the meaning of these words and apply them correctly during the lesson. Teachers will provide children with actions to match each of these words, to support the children in remembering and using the newly learnt vocabulary. This is something that we use from EYFS and expose children to scientific language from the start of their school life.

In all lessons, our children will read. This can be incorporated into any aspect of the lesson. Children will read a range of texts, from information texts to online glossaries and blogs.

Knowledge Rich and Academic

The science curriculum builds upon knowledge incrementally in a carefully sequenced curriculum, with opportunities to make links within and across year groups and in other subject areas. Pupils will develop an understanding of key substantive concepts (the human body, plants, classification, properties, materials, forces and habitats) that act as threads throughout our progressive science curriculum from the beginning to the end of the pupils’ primary education.

At St Thomas’, we deliver a science curriculum that goes beyond the expectations of the National Curriculum in some year groups. Examples of this include: teaching ‘Astronomy’ and ‘Electricity’ in Year Two and ‘Meteorology’ in Year Five. In doing this, we believe that gives children a good foundation for their learning as they move through school and provides them will the opportunity to deepen their knowledge in KS2.