Science
At Gledhow, we offer children a high-quality science curriculum, giving them the foundations for the understanding of the world through the lenses of biology, chemistry and physics.
We encourage children to be inquisitive throughout their time at the school and beyond. The Science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living.
We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout the programmes of study, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group. The key knowledge identified by each year group is informed by the national curriculum and builds towards identified phase ‘end points’ in accordance with National Curriculum expectations.
We have separated our study into three strands covering Life Processes and Living Things, Materials and their Properties and Physical Processes. These are all studied each year with the children being challenged at an ever increasing level as they are introduced to age appropriately higher level Science units.
Life Processes and Living Things
This strand of Science is in effect primary biology study and teaches about how living things function. Our children investigate plants and animals and their life processes, considering how they can be affected by the way that we live our lives.
We look at the characteristics of living things and their habitats, as well as exploring the theories of evolution and inheritance.
Materials and their Properties
Children are taught to develop their understanding of the criteria that can be used to group things together. They investigate the properties of these materials and learn that there are scientific rules and theorems that accurately describe the way that they behave.
Through this early chemistry study, we lay the foundations for more advanced experimentation and scientific thinking.
Physical Processes
The final strand of our teaching investigates the forces that make things move in our world. The children learn to measure and record accurately, interpreting their results to evaluate their hypotheses.
These units cover essential primary physics and teach many of the basic principles that have been discovered by scientists throughout the years. Our children are encouraged to ask questions and challenge what they are being told, eg : can we prove that?