Science is concerned with developing knowledge and understanding but we also aim to encourage an attitude of enquiry. Investigational work promotes the development of skills needed in observing, reasoning, experimenting and recording. Primary school children have a natural curiosity and an active interest in all that exists around them. At Midhurst Primary School we aim to build on that curiosity and introduce our children to different experiences, skills and areas of knowledge. We aim to create a general love of enquiry and learning and to deliver the National Curriculum for Science and use this as a framework to plan our science teaching.
The children will be learning to work in collaboration with others, to investigate, interpret, and solve problems. They will learn to acquire information from various sources and record their findings in different ways. We also aim to use the five areas of scientific enquiry in order to further our understanding, these are:
- Observation over time.
- Pattern seeking.
- Identifying, classifying and grouping.
- Comparative and fair testing.
- Research using secondary sources.
Children will regularly be given opportunities to plan and carry out scientific investigations, learning the essential skills of planning, obtaining evidence, observing, predicting, measuring, presenting results and drawing conclusions. The areas of study for each child are:
| Year 1 | Working Scientifically – (involves the processes of science, including understanding the sorts of questions that are the province of science; the design of experiments; reasoning and arguing with scientific evidence; and analysing and interpreting data.) | Plants | Animals including humans | Everyday materials | Seasonal changes | |
| Year 2 | Living things and their habitats | Plants | Animals including humans | Uses of everyday materials | ||
| Year 3 | Plants | Animals including humans | Rocks | Light | Forces and magnets | |
| Year 4 | All living things | Animals including humans | States of matter | Sound | Electricity | |
| Year 5 | Living things and their habitats | Animals including humans | Properties and changes of materials | Earth and Space | Forces | |
| Year 6 | Living things and their habitats | Animals including humans | Evolution and Inheritance | Light | Electricity |