Science
Science teaching at Freeman’s Endowed CE Junior Academy aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them whilst acquiring specific skills underpinned by clear declarative knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.
At Freeman’s Endowed Academy, scientific enquiry skills are embedded in each topic the children study and these topics are revisited and developed throughout their time at school. Topics, such as plants, are taught in lower key stage and in upper key stage Two. This model allows children to build upon their prior knowledge and increase their enthusiasm for the topics whilst embedding the declarative knowledge into their long-term memory through a range of scientific enquiry skills.
All children are encouraged to develop and use a range of skills including observations, planning and investigations, as well as being encouraged to question the world around them and become independent learners in exploring possible answers for their scientific based questions. Specialist vocabulary for topics is taught and built up, and effective questioning to communicate ideas is encouraged. Concepts taught should be reinforced by focusing on the key features of scientific enquiry, so that pupils learn to use a variety of approaches to answer relevant scientific questions.