Science & Technology

Science Intent

At St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary school, we recognise the importance of science in our everyday lives. Science is taught as part of Our World Curriculum, which is coherently planned and sequenced to build on pupils’ prior knowledge and skills. It covers the requirements of the National Curriculum whilst providing meaningful,

contextualised opportunities and links for children’s learning. We aim to foster a good understanding of scientific knowledge, skills and understanding. In addition, we recognise the significance of embedding key vocabulary, concepts and understanding into long-term memory and our units of work are designed so that topics are revisited, consolidated and built upon to ensure that children leave our school with a solid foundation with which to continue their scientific journey.

We place high value in promoting each child’s ability to question what they learn, see and understand, therefore enquiry skills are embedded within each science topic.  Children are encouraged to use relevant scientific vocabulary whilst exploring their ideas, making links between science and other spheres of learning, carefully observing what they see and building upon prior knowledge. 

For example, under the umbrella theme of Our World – Our Responsibility, the Year 4 pupils learnt about the Amazon Rainforest through their history, geography, music and art lessons. This linked naturally to the study of habitats and food chains in science lessons. This approach to learning allows children to contextualise their learning which supports enjoyment, engagement and transference of knowledge to their long term memory.

At St Bernadette’s, children are equipped with the key scientific skills required to understand the uses and implications of science, including planning, evaluating, concluding and extending their own ideas through questioning, the exploration of a range of possible answers and independent discovery.  We believe that this will lead to children developing a genuine love of science and thirst for future learning. To promote children's awe and wonder within the subject of science, we have introduced termly 'Smashing Science Days' and we celebrate British Science Week with a range of inspirational visitors, investigations and workshops. Our newly introduced Careers Fair has a particular focus on promoting careers within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) disciplines.

Working alongside Our World Curriculum is the STEM curriculum this supports the National Curriculum Science framework, builds upon and further develops children’s scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical skills. The aim of the STEM curriculum is to prepare our children to be employees and citizens of the future, to recognise the role of STEM subjects in everyday life.