Children begin their formal science education in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This involves learning foundational knowledge primarily through the ‘understanding of the world: the natural world’ area of learning which involves a range of observational, practical explorations. This provides a number of rich contexts for pupils to learn a wide range of vocabulary.

Each school meets the objectives of the National Curriculum through the Primary Knowledge Curriculum. This provides a structured framework for scientific learning ensuring key topics are regularly revisited in a systematic and planned manner. Children are actively encouraged to recall and apply their own knowledge to scientific concepts.  

As specified by the National Curriculum our science curriculum aims to: 

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
• Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them.
• Ensure children are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. ​​​​​​​

Our curriculum has been designed to be the ‘progression model’ by setting out the specific knowledge we want children to learn, ordering it coherently and building in opportunities to check that children are remembering what they have been taught. This means that as children progress from unit to unit, year to year, they will be learning more and remembering more in science. 

An effective science curriculum not only defines essential concepts and procedures for pupils to acquire, but also carefully outlines how pupils will progressively develop their understanding over time. The coherence between the two has been shown by research to be defining aspect of high-quality science curricula (Ofsted Science Research Review, 2021). 

To achieve this coherence, the Primary Knowledge Curriculum pairs ‘substantive with disciplinary knowledge, so that disciplinary knowledge is always learned within the most appropriate substantive contexts’ (Ofsted Science Research Review, 2021): 

• Substantive knowledge is ‘knowledge of the products of science, such as models, laws and theories’ and it is ‘organised according to the 3 subject disciplines: biology, chemistry and physics’ (Ofsted Science Research Review, 2021). 

• Disciplinary knowledge is ‘knowledge of the practices of science’ (Ofsted Science Research Review, 2021). 

In the Primary Knowledge Curriculum, substantive and disciplinary knowledge are intertwined. There is a focus on providing foundational knowledge and understanding (i.e. substantive) before shifting to the application of knowledge through scientific inquiry (i.e. disciplinary). This progression from substantive to disciplinary is intentional in our curriculum to ensure that students have a solid understanding of the concepts before they engage in experimentation.

Impact

We hope to enable all of our pupils to engage positively with science throughout their lives including through career choices. We believe Science and Engineering are vitally 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. Science is all around us and helps children to make sense of the world 

Through Science, at Dartmoor Academy Trust we aim to give all our children an understanding of the world around them from the moment they join us as both an entitlement and a pleasure. When children are studying Science at the primary level, they should be acquiring specific skills and knowledge to help them to think scientifically, to gain an understanding of scientific processes, develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena and also an understanding of the uses and implications of Science today and for the future.