At Byker Primary School, we know that a high-quality science education is the key to understanding the world around us via the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Our children are taught to use science to explain how the world works, predict how things will behave and analyse causes- essential skills if they are to discover truth within an age of information. Science at Byker allows children simultaneously to interpret their present and to create their own future. In this way, the science curriculum not only enables but informs our curriculum drivers:

Understanding our place in the world

Science has changed lives throughout human history and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. This ensures children comprehend entirely the way all of our lives are interconnected and how we can exist and thrive on this planet.

Aspiring to achieve

Science is vital to the world’s prosperity; at Byker, we promise our children a brighter future. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils recognise the power of rational explanation and demand more of their lives with the tools to turn dreams into reality.

Broadening horizons

Science compels our children to develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. By truly appreciating the nature of our existence, we can look to surpass what once seemed to be boundaries. Every enquiry, investigation and moment of discovery sows the seeds for ambition in the next generation.

Subject  Aims:

At Byker, we follow the National Curriculum for science, which aims to ensure that all pupils:

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the 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.

To this end, the science curriculum at Byker is designed to simultaneously deliver substantive knowledge (“what we learn”) alongside procedural knowledge (“how we learn”). The sequence of learning dictates what should be taught, when it should be taught and how it should be taught, anticipating common misconceptions and providing a rich background of detailed subject knowledge for teachers in order that all children can reach beyond core concepts. Understanding of each key block of substantive knowledge is revisited across the years to ensure genuine progression, while the curriculum details the specialist vocabulary children should be able to use accurately and precisely at each stage.

Procedural knowledge employed in class is chosen for relevance to the substantive knowledge and shared with the children as “working as a scientist”. These types of scientific enquiry include: observing over time; pattern seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing (controlled investigations); researching using secondary sources; and applying their mathematical knowledge to their understanding of science, including collecting, presenting and analysing data. In turn, activities in class develop the relevant procedural knowledge alongside the substantive. Practical tasks are carefully considered to ensure that they promote the children’s best work; are relevant to the unit studied; and make the learning journey assured.