Science is part of the National Curriculum taught in all schools. Here at Marshland St James Primary and Nursery School we use the PKC (Primary Knowledge Curriculum) to help us deliver our lessons.

The Primary Knowledge Curriculum builds knowledge incrementally. Pupils have multiple opportunities to secure and build upon their knowledge by revisiting subject content at carefully sequenced points throughout the curriculum. By building upon their knowledge in a cumulative manner, the curriculum ensures pupils secure greater breadth and depth in their understanding of scientific knowledge, skills and the discipline of science. The Human Body strand taught in all year groups is a prominent example of how pupils’ understanding progresses over time to achieve this. This progression helps children to master the knowledge and concepts whilst simultaneously building up an extended subject-specific vocabulary that enables them to communicate their knowledge. This incremental approach helps teachers to identify knowledge gaps and easily look back at previous content to see what they need to address.

Pupils will be encouraged to use the knowledge they learn in science and apply it to investigations that test a hypothesis or set out to answer a question. The curriculum builds pupil understanding of disciplinary knowledge over time. Importantly, substantive scientific knowledge is taught first, before pupils are asked to undertake enquiry. This helps them to fully understand the elements of the enquiry first, and to make informed observations about the processes they see. Gathering information, recording data, graphing data and interpreting findings are all essential skills that pupils will apply to new contexts as they work through the curriculum. Each of these will develop the pupil’s ability to clearly communicate their scientific understanding.

Disciplinary knowledge is developed through the working scientifically criteria laid out on the lesson plans. To compliment this, pupils will also develop their understanding of the five types of scientific enquiry: observing over time; pattern-seeking; identifying, classifying and grouping; comparative and fair testing; and researching using secondary sources. Scientific enquiries will provide children with a wealth of opportunities to explore what they have learnt. Most importantly, they will help to deepen pupil understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science as a discipline, and how it differs from other subjects they are studying.

Pupils will encounter people who have made significant contributions to the field of science over time, learning that science has been a quest for understanding for many years, and will continue to be so in the future.