“Science is the process that take us from confusion to understanding” – Brian Greene
Science-Curriculum-Overview-for-Parents
🔬 Science Curriculum at Tebay Primary School
At Tebay Primary School, we are passionate about nurturing curiosity and developing a deep understanding of the world through our Science curriculum. Using the Kapow Primary mixed-age planning, we deliver a carefully sequenced and knowledge-rich curriculum that builds progressively across year groups, ensuring all pupils develop the scientific knowledge, skills, and vocabulary they need to succeed.
📚 Our Curriculum Structure
Science is taught in three mixed-age phases, allowing for progression and continuity across the school:
- Phase 1: Years 1 and 2
- Phase 2: Years 3 and 4
- Phase 3: Years 5 and 6
Each phase follows a two-year rolling programme, ensuring full coverage of the National Curriculum and allowing pupils to revisit and deepen their understanding of key scientific concepts over time.
🧠 Implementation: How We Teach Science
To support children in knowing more and remembering more, each Science lesson follows a consistent structure that promotes active learning, critical thinking, and knowledge retention:
- 🔁 Recall & Retrieve
Lessons begin with a short activity to revisit prior learning. This helps children make connections between new and existing knowledge, reinforcing key concepts. - 🗣️ Vocabulary Introduction
Scientific vocabulary is explicitly taught and embedded throughout each lesson. This enables children to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently using accurate terminology. - 🔍 Teaching of Core Knowledge
Teachers deliver engaging and practical lessons that focus on key scientific knowledge and concepts. Children explore the world through observation, questioning, investigation, and experimentation, developing a secure understanding of biology, chemistry, and physics. - ✍️ Linked Task
Pupils apply their learning through hands-on investigations, data collection, analysis, and written or verbal explanations. These tasks are designed to develop scientific enquiry skills and deepen conceptual understanding. - ✅ Knowledge Stamp
Each lesson concludes with a ‘knowledge stamp’ – a short activity or reflection that consolidates the key learning and allows children to demonstrate their understanding.
🎯 Impact: What Our Pupils Gain
By the end of their time at Tebay Primary School, our pupils will:
- Have a strong foundation in scientific knowledge and enquiry skills.
- Be confident in using scientific vocabulary to explain their thinking.
- Be curious, critical thinkers who ask questions and seek evidence.
- Be prepared for the next stage of their scientific learning in secondary school.
Our Science curriculum is regularly reviewed to ensure it remains ambitious, inclusive, and aligned with the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF), focusing on intent, implementation, and impact.
🐣 Science in the Early Years (EYFS)
In the Early Years Foundation Stage, Science is introduced through the Understanding the World area of learning, supported by the Kapow Primary EYFS scheme. Children are encouraged to explore the natural world around them, observe changes, ask questions, and develop early scientific thinking through play-based and hands-on experiences. Activities include exploring materials, observing plants and animals, investigating seasonal changes, and using simple tools. These experiences lay the foundation for scientific enquiry and curiosity, preparing children for more formal science learning in Key Stage 1.
