Science

Science Leader: Mrs Holgate (Hinchliffe Mill School)

Vision

Aspirational: We inspire our pupils to aim high in their scientific learning, encouraging them to set ambitious goals and push the boundaries of their knowledge. By fostering a mindset of continuous growth and innovation, we empower them to pursue scientific exploration with enthusiasm and determination.

Adventurous: Science is a journey of discovery, and we encourage our pupils to embrace the unknown with curiosity and courage. Through hands-on experiments, investigations, and real-world applications, we nurture a sense of excitement and a willingness to take intellectual risks.

Creative: Science thrives on creativity, and we support our pupils in thinking outside the box to solve problems, design experiments, and develop new ideas. We encourage them to approach challenges with imagination, innovation, and a spirit of exploration.

Resilient: The path to scientific discovery is filled with challenges, but we teach our pupils to persevere through setbacks. By embracing failure as part of the learning process, they develop the resilience needed to refine their ideas, adapt their approaches, and keep striving for solutions.

Respectful: Science is built on collaboration and shared knowledge. We instil in our pupils a deep respect for the scientific process, for the natural world, and for the diverse perspectives of their peers. They learn to engage in constructive discussions, value evidence-based reasoning, and appreciate the contributions of others.

Independent: We empower our pupils to become independent thinkers who take ownership of their learning. By developing critical thinking skills and scientific inquiry techniques, they gain the confidence to ask their own questions, seek answers, and drive their own discoveries.

Our vision is to nurture young scientists who embody these values—aspirational in their goals, adventurous in their explorations, creative in their approaches, resilient in overcoming challenges, respectful in their interactions, and independent in their thinking. Through this, we equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills, and mindset necessary to thrive in the modern world and make a meaningful impact on the future of science.

Implementation

Long Term Plans

At Holme Junior and Infant School our science curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the world around us. Our long-term overviews have been developed to ensure all pupils are taught essential aspects of the scientific knowledge, working scientifically skills and enquiry approaches, whilst developing a sense of excitement and curiosity about the natural world.

Science is a core subject of the National Curriculum and working scientifically underpins all our teaching. Science is taught through the contexts of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, whilst developing the working scientifically skills of asking questions, making predictions, observing and measuring, planning enquires, recording results, interpreting results to draw conclusions, and evaluating.

We run a two-year rolling cycle in Class 1 to accommodate our EYFS-KS1 children. In Class 2 we cover a Years 3-4 and a Years 5-6 two-year rolling cycle.

Medium Term Plans

Medium term plans are carefully designed to match the needs and structure of our complex mixed-age classes. They plan purposeful steps to ensure a coherent and sequential learning experience, building a rich and profound knowledge of scientific phenomena, events and concepts.  

Medium term plans coming soon ...

Impact

We assess pupils' skills and knowledge against our curriculum, ensuring clarity in what and how pupils are learning on a day-to-day basis.

To measure the impact of our teaching and learning for each child, we focus on two key areas of assessment:

• Substantive Knowledge: What they know and understand about scientific phenomena, concepts, events and scientists.
• Disciplinary Knowledge: The skills they have learnt through enquiries whilst working scientifically.  

Our 'Plymouth Science' Toolkit

At Holme Mill Junior and Infant School, our Science curriculum is guided by our core values, which underpin all aspects of our school community. We are committed to cultivating a learning environment where every child is empowered to thrive and develop a profound understanding and respect for the world around us.

Our curriculum is built on the 'Plymouth Science' scheme, which provides a solid foundation for our long-term overviews and medium-term plans, tailored to suit our unique split classes. Teachers use ‘Plymouth Science’ as a professional development tool to enhance their substantive knowledge for each lesson. Additionally, we have created our own disciplinary knowledge statements to ensure that all learning is age-appropriate, fostering a rich and engaging scientific education for all our pupils.

British Science Week

For British Science Week last year, all pupils in school were given an 'Astronaut Pass' with a selection of 'missions' they could complete based around Space. We were blown away by the children's creativity and enthusiasm. Here are some pictures of their amazing creations and activities they were involved in!