Science

Science has changed our lives and is vital to our future and a high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world.

Here at Buxted we have a broad and balanced science curriculum. It aims to equip our children with the knowledge to discover new things for themselves and the confidence to ask challenging questions.

The science curriculum covers the following areas of knowledge:

• Life and living processes – living things; plants, animals (including humans) and their habitats
• Materials and their physical properties – everyday materials, changes, rocks
• Light, sound, electricity, forces and magnets
• Earth and space – seasonal changes
• Evolution and inheritance and the skills of working scientifically - experimental and investigative science

At Buxted, we teach Science in a variety of ways including whole class teaching, demonstration and discussion, the use of mixed ability or ability groups and by practical investigation and observation.

We aim to:

• build on children’s natural curiosity and develop a scientific approach to problems
• encourage open-mindedness, self-criticism, perseverance, tolerance and responsibility
• prepare children for life in a fast changing and increasingly scientific and technological world
• foster concern about, and appreciation of, the local and world environment
• build children’s self-confidence to enable them to work independently and develop social skills for co-operative work
• help children to acquire an understanding of scientific ideas and processes
• help children to acquire practical scientific skills
• provide children with enjoyable experiences so they remain curious and, if possible, maintain a lasting interest in scientific developments
• acknowledge, in our planning and teaching, the contributions to the development of science that have been made by countries and cultures other than those that are British or European.
• make reference to the role that both male and female scientists have played in the origin and development of ideas.

Appropriate scientific vocabulary is introduced and developed at every stage enabling children to accurately communicate with others, while broadening and deepening their scientific understanding. By the time they leave Buxted, all children will have had experiences of setting up, recording and evaluating scientific experiments, both formally and in more informal settings as they have progressed through the curriculum framework.

Science teaching is linked to topic work where relevant. Otherwise, it is taught as a stand-alone unit. There is an agreed pattern of topics throughout the school, (four to six topics per year in most year groups). We take every opportunity to use our amazing local environment and school grounds to enhance teaching and learning - including Ashdown Forest, the school pond, the trees and woodland, insects and pond-life.