Aims and purpose
With this curriculum, we aim to develop an interest in passion for science by exploring answers to big questions like ‘“How do forces make things happen?’” We combine substantive and disciplinary knowledge to make practical skills, mathematical proficiency, and scientific practices meaningful.
Curriculum principles
Knowledge and vocabulary rich
This principle recognises the important role that knowledge, and vocabulary as a particularly important type of knowledge, plays in learning. We identify and map vocabulary across the curriculum, both the introduction of new vocabulary and the necessary repetition of vocabulary that has gone before. Our curriculum develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts over time. As concepts evolve, so do their definitions, for example, ‘group’ becomes ‘classify’ as pupils move through the key stages.
Sequenced and coherent
The sequencing of our curriculum content underpins its design so that pupils build on and make links with existing knowledge. Curriculum threads, which provide coherence by mapping vertical concepts across the curriculum, mirror the ‘big questions’ in science. For example, ‘How do we explain how substances behave?’ is first addressed in key stage 1 by identifying everyday materials and their properties. This foundational knowledge is built upon in key stage 2 with reversible and irreversible changes.
Evidence-informed
Our evidence-informed approach enables the rigorous application of research outcomes, the science of learning and impactful best practices both in education in general and at a subject-specific level. For example, the design of our resources reflects findings from Sweller’s cognitive load theory and Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning whilst our lesson design draws on Rosenshine’s principles of instruction. We also draw on findings from research organisations such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Our curriculum is inspired by the Best Evidence Science Teaching (BEST) research-informed curriculum development project and is structured to incorporate the outcomes of this research, including appropriately sequenced steps for learning progression and diagnostic questions that provide evidence of learning and common misconceptions, with response activities to challenge misconceptions.
Diverse
Our curriculum highlights the achievements of scientists from different genders, ethnicities, and nationalities to ensure a diversity of perspectives and experiences. This approach ensures that our science curriculum is inclusive and reflective of the global scientific community.
Accessible
Our curriculum is intentionally designed to facilitate high-quality teaching as a powerful lever to support pupils with SEND. Aligned with EEF guidance, our resources have a focus on clear explanations with scientific diagrams, modelling and frequent checks for understanding, with guided and independent practice.
Subject principles
Building knowledge of key concepts in a way that reflects how knowledge is organised in the three scientific disciplines
Our science curriculum structures knowledge to reflect the organisation of biology, chemistry, and physics, introducing concepts in a logical sequence from basic to advanced topics. Fundamental ideas are taught with consistent language and models across disciplines.
Pairing substantive and disciplinary knowledge, particularly around practical work
Our curriculum combines substantive knowledge (concepts) with disciplinary knowledge (scientific methods) to enhance practical work. This approach ensures that practical activities are purposeful and clearly linked to theoretical concepts.
A ‘big ideas’ approach to developing subject concepts
We use a ‘big ideas’ approach to create ‘big questions’ in science that link concepts across the curriculum. For example, with the question “Why are there similarities and differences between living things?” we start with identifying plants and animals in key stage 1 going onto study habitats and basic biology in key stage 2.This ‘big question’ helps students from the key stages to connect new knowledge with prior learning.
Where there is a practical focus, it builds knowledge through the use of carefully planned and purposeful practical activities
Practical work is carefully planned; a physics experiment on forces is carefully designed to connect substantive knowledge of force interactions with the disciplinary skills of measuring and analysing data. Each activity is sequenced to build on previous knowledge, ensuring students engage deeply with the material.
Where mathematics is taught or used in science, alignment with the sequence, language and approach used in the mathematics curriculum is considered
The mathematical skills used in science align with the mathematics curriculum. When teaching data analysis, we use the same methods and language as in mathematics lessons, helping students to apply their mathematical knowledge effectively in scientific contexts. Where there are differences between the approaches in mathematics and science they are explicitly shared with pupils so that they can make connections between the two subjects.
National curriculum
There are 3 aims of the national curriculum. First, is that all ‘pupils develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics’. Each of our curriculum threads is explicitly signposted as sitting within biology, chemistry or physics. For example, ‘Biology: What are living things and what are they made of?’ or ‘Chemistry: What are things made of?’. This means that pupils are taught knowledge from within each discipline, building from fundamentals such as grouping animals and plants to the more complex elements such as genetic engineering.
The next aim is to ‘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’. Our curriculum incorporates a diverse range of scientific enquiries, these activities encourage critical thinking, provide hands-on activities, use models such as the solar system to explain abstract concepts, and foster reflection and discussion.
The last aim is that pupils ‘are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future’. Our curriculum links scientific concepts to real-world applications, fosters discussions on the ethical and societal impacts of scientific developments, and encourages pupils to think critically about how science influences the future in fields like sustainability and health.