Science 

At Oldmixon, we follow the National Curriculum for science and believe that scientific investigation is one of the most powerful ways to learn, challenging children to express and modify their ideas, and fostering curiosity and perseverance. We have designed our curriculum to increase children’s science capital by choosing contexts that are relevant to them, their experiences and the learning opportunities we are able to access in our local area. Our intention is that children move on ready for secondary school science with a curiosity and wonder about the world. They ask questions and know that they have the potential for finding out answers to them.

Science and Engineering are rapidly growing and important industries in the modern world. Even if children do not become scientists or engineers, they will grow up in a world that requires scientific literacy and critical thinking skills in order to make informed decisions about the challenges of living on our planet.

Our curriculum has been carefully sequenced so that knowledge and skills are built upon progressively, enabling children to make links with prior knowledge when learning new concepts. A scientist observes, questions, creates hypotheses, experiments, records data, and then analyses that data. Throughout their school journey, the children make progress in these skills, empowering them to question the world around them and become scientific thinkers.

We aim to make our science lessons as practical as possible based on the children’s questions and interests. Teachers use regular retrieval activities to support children to revisit and secure prior learning so they have a secure base upon which to build new learning experiences. Key scientific vocabulary is planned for, taught and reinforced so that children are able to communicate their ideas clearly, both internally and to others.

Science lessons are not just limited to the classroom. We use the school grounds, visitors and field trips to maximise children’s learning experiences and make their learning memorable for them.

Exploring and enjoying science with your child at home

Learning about the world through science activities helps children to see that science is 'for' them and can lead on to science based further education and employment in the future.

These websites have some super investigations to try at home with your child. Not only will you be supporting their learning, you will have lots of fun too. Please let us know about anything that you do try at home.

The Kitchen Pantry Scientist

https://kitchenpantryscientist.com

Experimental, from the Royal Institute

https://www.rigb.org/families/experimental

Royal Society of Chemistry – kitchen chemistry

https://edu.rsc.org/resources/collections/kitchen-chemistry#!cmpid=CMP00000908