Aim

At St William of York, we aim to make science as practical and awe-inspiring as possible. We teach the children to create their own experiments to investigate questions and encourage scientific enquiry.

Inspire, Engage, Investigate

As a school, we use White Rose Science as our scheme of learning. This provides guidance and resources for teaching high-quality lessons with a practical approach and therefore allows us to teach science in an engaging and logical way. 

Our schemes of learning provide full coverage of the national curriculum for science, but they don’t stop there. They also cover scientific questions around sustainability and the planet, and help children develop an empathy for the local and wider environment.

            

Through experiment, practice and discussion, children gain core knowledge around:

• Scientific vocabulary
• ‘Working scientifically’ skills including systematic and careful observations and following practical scientific methods
• The gathering and interpretation of straightforward scientific evidence
• The use of everyday materials and scientific equipment to solve science problems
• Articulating scientific concepts and using five types of science enquiries

We believe that children should be taught science in a way that helps nurture an understanding of the value of scientific skills. We think science learning should be fun, engaging and inspiring.

For more details about our science curriculum, please see the map below. 

Partnerships

As a school, we are proud to be part of The Ogden Trust. The Ogden Trust aims to increase engagement in science and the uptake of physics in higher education, particularly in under-represented groups. The Trust supports schools, teachers, projects and programmes that are committed to enhancing physics teaching and learning. The School Partnerships programme encourages and facilitates schools to focus on:

• Teacher professional development to help improve the teaching of physics; empowering teachers so they can inspire their students to take physics further
• The wider learning environment, including support for technicians and teaching assistants, and investment in physics learning spaces and resources
• Enrichment through family and community group engagement, and networking with local employers to provide a range of broader physics experiences for pupils.

Research-based Practice

As part of our continued focus on evidence-based teaching practices, St William of York are taking part in a research project in collaboration with the Education Endowment Foundation. The focus of this research project is to evaluate the impact of specialised CPD and how this affects pupil attainment in science. It includes a wealth of professional development opportunities for staff to upskill their science teaching, which has already filtered through to classroom practice.