At Seaton Sluice First School, our Science curriculum is designed to ignite children’s natural curiosity about the universe, foster a passion for discovery, and equip them with the skills to understand the world around them. To provide a rigorous, high-quality scientific education, we follow the United Curriculum across both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, delivering a beautifully sequenced framework that builds deep substantive knowledge across biology, chemistry, and physics.
A central pillar of our science provision is a strong focus on practical, hands-on learning. We believe that children learn science best by doing science. In every unit, our pupils are encouraged to work scientifically by launching investigations, making close observations, predicting outcomes, and testing their own hypotheses. By using practical experiments and specialized equipment, abstract concepts are brought to life in the classroom. This interactive approach not only solidifies their scientific understanding but also teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and a profound respect for evidence and the environment.
Substantive knowledge:
•Ensuring pupils master core content through the development of key concepts and timely revisiting of key knowledge•Sequencing the curriculum and selecting knowledge to allow for gradual development of vertical concepts – the ‘big ideas’ in science
•Preventing common misconceptions that are often formed at an early age and prove problematic at the later stages of pupils’ science education
•Purposefully teaching appropriate knowledge that goes beyond the KS1 and KS2 national curriculum, to aid current and future understanding
•Encouraging pupils to apply and make connections between the disciplines of science, the wider curriculum and the wider world
Disciplinary knowledge:
•Sequencing Working Scientifically elements so that they are explicitly taught and practised alongside the substantive knowledge, and regularly reviewed and built upon across the years and key stages •Making deliberate and explicit links to other curriculum areas – particularly geography and mathematics – to ensure there is a consistent approach to teaching content, and that pupils are always first taught content in the most relevant subject. For example, pupils are taught how to construct bar charts or calculate the mean in mathematics before they are applied in science
•Planning practical tasks that have a clear purpose: to demonstrate or prove substantive concepts, or to allow pupils to deliberately practice working scientifically skills in a relevant context
Curiosity and excitement about science:
•Selecting examples and applications of science that inspires pupils’ curiosity about the world and natural phenomena•Ensuring that all pupils can see themselves reflected in the science curriculum, by highlighting present-day role models and the contributions of scientists from a wide range of backgrounds; and considering social and cultural values around scientific ideas