Science

Science at Rivington Foundation Primary School

Science is a vibrant subject at Rivington about which we are incredibly passionate. Children have lots of questions about the world around us and we aim to provide them with the necessary core scientific knowledge and investigative skills to answer their questions about those processes. At present, our curriculum provides a rich variety of topics that cover all the core scientific disciplines and contexts that the children can relate to their everyday lives. Each half term the children are posed a key question or context from which they generate their own scientific lines of enquiry. They will then explore this question using a variety of investigative skills, engaging and becoming more familiar with each of the elements of the scientific method as they progress through the school. These include skills such as generating their own lines of enquiry, making predictions, analysing results, observing changes over time, collecting results in a variety of ways, drawing conclusions from their observations and evaluating their own method and the reliability of their results. Underpinning this is an emphasis on children actively participating in their own practical investigations and experiments, utilising the classroom, wider school environment and the local environment and community.

 

How is Science taught across Key Stages?

Within each academic year, children will study a range of scientific topics. In both Key Stage 1 (KS1) and Key Stage 2 (KS2), children are taught Science as a freestanding subject, covering a specific topic each half term. Each Science topic is primarily based around one of the three core disciplines (Biology, Physics and Chemistry), with children touching on all three every year.

 

Our Science Vocabulary

At Rivington, we know that a good understanding of a wide range of vocabulary supports success across the whole national curriculum. We have identified ‘core’ words that the children will meet in different subjects and in different topics. These words will be revisited and taught in different contexts so that the children develop a deep understanding of their meaning and they become tools with which children can access the knowledge, skills and understanding the curriculum demands.  Obviously, these are not the only words we will teach. But they will form a backbone through our curriculum to help to scaffold and develop the children’s learning.

 

Science Trips

As a rural school we are lucky enough to have Rivington on our doorstep. We use this fantastic resource for forest schools, focused work in our nature journals. Every opportunity we try to use our local environment and opportunities for practical field work on our doorstep. We’re constantly looking for new and meaningful experiences that will enrich the scientific understanding and investigative skills of the children we teach. Previous trips have included Museum Of Science and Industry, Electricity North West visit, United Utilities and many more. These are regularly reported on the school Twitter and in our weekly newsletter, so do have a look and see what we’ve been getting up to.

 

Science at Home

Science is a subject that relates to our understanding of the processes of the world around us. As such, it is one of the most relevant subjects that children can engage with at home. At Rivington we actively encourage children to continue their investigations at home, and even try some new ones.

 

Below are some websites you might find useful to help your child learn Science at home.

Primary Science

The Artful Parent

National Geographic Kids

Science Activities and Experiments