At Aycliffe Community Primary School, we aim to develop pupils’ curiosity about the world around them and give them the scientific knowledge and understanding needed to make sense of it.

We follow The Education People Primary Science Scheme of Work, which is aligned with the National Curriculum and adapted to meet the needs of our mixed-age classes. The curriculum is carefully sequenced so that pupils build their scientific knowledge progressively and make connections with what they have learned before.

Our Science curriculum develops both substantive knowledge, including the important scientific concepts pupils need to know, and disciplinary knowledge, which teaches pupils how scientific knowledge is developed. Pupils learn to ask scientific questions, make observations and predictions, carry out different types of enquiry, use equipment and measurements, record and interpret data, draw conclusions and use evidence to explain their findings. 

Prior learning is regularly revisited so that pupils can retrieve important knowledge, make connections between different areas of Science and build increasingly secure understanding over time. 

Assessment

Assessment is primarily formative and is used to identify what pupils have remembered, misconceptions and areas that need to be revisited. Teachers use questioning, pupil discussion, meaningful work and low-stakes knowledge checks alongside the scheme's assessment materials to identify whether pupils have secured the essential knowledge.