Science

Science

Intent

At Great Missenden Primary School, we are SCIENTISTS! It is our intent to instil a lifelong love of science within our pupils, no matter of where their starting point is, and an understanding of how science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity. This is all done by providing a high-quality science education where we provide doors for all children to walk through, through the opportunities and experiences we offer them. Our science curriculum aims to give all children a strong understanding of the world around them. Children are able to discover how the world works and our place, impact, roles and responsibilities within our environment through the windows they look through. Our children are encouraged to ask questions and apply their scientific skills and knowledge to investigate and find answers. Our children are able to develop a systematic and logical way of working and are able to reflect on investigations to develop knowledge and gain informative answers. Science allows children to be inquisitive and reflective in a safe environment, our children have the courage to push themselves out of their comfort zone and try new things. Science helps to develop confident, articulate and investigative learners.

Implementation

At Great Missenden we are mad about Science and we are thinking scientifically in all that we do; in addition to our independent Science lessons, we weave scientific thinking into many of our creative topics across the curriculum and encourage children to be involved in extra-curricular activities such as competitions, school trips, science week, themed days and after school clubs. These rich and exciting opportunities to learn help to develop a passion for science that everyone at Great Missenden can experience. 

Impact

To truly understand the impact of our Science curriculum, you have to come and see us!

To measure the impact, we have clear end points identified using unit assessment statements. Staff are therefore fully aware of the expectations of all children. We use a range of formative assessment in every Science lesson including concept cartoons, EXPLORIFY activities, recap quizzes. This information can then be used to inform our planning and short-term intervention 'Keep up, not catch up.' To measure progress, we use a range of assessment techniques at the end of each unit, for example double page spread, quiz, post unit thought shower, cross curricular writing.

The pupils of Great Missenden are Scientists. They enjoy the science experiences that we provide for them, both inside and outside of school. The children at our school recognise that Science is in everything that we do, not just in Science lessons. 

Pupil Voice Impact Analysis

Reception: "It (Science) is fun, visitors are fun."

Year 1: "It (Science) is so much fun and the whole world of learning is in Science.”

Year 2: "We have a fun teacher who knows lots and lets us do lots of experiments."

Year 3: “We are all scientists- because we learn stuff and want to learn more.”

Year 4: "Science helps us figure out new things like cures and it is about chemistry, explosions, animals. We find out new things like new species. Science comes in different types- rocks, chemistry, inventing."

Year 5: "We do experiments to explain different things (what happens, forces/effects, natural events- all sorts), we then record and compare answers and results. This helps us to learn more about the world. It explains what the world does, how it works, what will happen in the future."

Year 6: "Science can be physics, biology and chemistry. Physics is about mass and gravity, biology is to do with humans and plants, chemistry is where you mix stuff together like solids, liquids and gases. A good example of Science is COVID 19 because they are trying to find a vaccine which is using science. In class, we find patterns and investigate new things by doing experiments and then we discuss our findings. When I think of Science I imagine what humans can accomplish with modern day technology."

Our children leave Great Missenden more knowledgeable about the world around them. They recognise that science is all around us. They leave ready to challenge cultural stereotypes and leave with visions of improving the world they live in. 

In 2021 Great Missenden School passed its PSQM submission!

See our excellent feedback below.

Last year, Great Missenden school enrolled in the PSQM programme. After evaluating where we were as a school in regards to science in September 2021, we worked really hard as a school to improve our science teaching and learning across the school. We passed with flying colours and look forward to continuing to develop and improve Science and the opportunities we provide for the children.

Below (see the learning journey) is the portfolio we submitted and it shows off just how hard we have worked to transform science within our school.

"Fantastic! Rarely do I read a review so fulsome in praise for the science subject leaders and the developments they have instigated. Please be hugely proud of all you have achieved. Many congratulations on all your successes and good luck with future developments."

Clare Warren

Senior Regional Hub Leader

The Science Learning Journey

The Science Learning Journey 

Science Week w/c 22.03.21

'Science: Here, there and everywhere'

Twitter feeds were updated for every year group throughout this week to show off all of the fun and learning our little scientists had and did.

The website below is fab for all things Science during the distance learning phase! If you and your child/ren are wanting to do more than just the weekly science lessons then have a look at this link. It has lots of different websites, videos, virtual tours, TV programmes, magazines to buy and activities and resources to keep children exploring, investigating, learning and having fun! Please share anything you get up to with Miss Cartwright on 6C@gmglt.co.uk as I would love to see it!

September 2020

In year 6 we are focusing on 'Living things and their habitats' and last week we used Carl Linnaeus's theory of taxonomy to classify different sweets and chocolates. We used all that we had learnt about classifying animals and plants and applied it to the sweets. We thought about ingredients, structure, colour to help us group. We created classification keys within our groups. We had lots of fun doing this and the practical element really helped us get to grips with how we group things and how we create our own classification keys.

STEM Week 2020

This year we were blessed to have our STEM week during British Science Week!

We had many interesting and exciting visitors come and show us how exciting and accessible their jobs were. Discussions and lessons about their career choices, their mistakes and their efforts to improve the world by fine-tuning their talents have been a huge inspiration to the children of Great Missenden and would not have been achievable without our incredible community of volunteers!

Thank you!

STEM WEEK 2019 – 3D Printing, Coding, sketch-up and robotics

The children at Great Missenden School have had such an exciting STEM week 2019. They were visited by a local engineer (Chris from Technet) who works closely with schools offering a wide range of workshops to inspire the next generation of inventors.

Following an introductory assembly about the benefits of 3D printing, coding and robotics, children from all year groups were given the opportunity to explore and play around with a range of different technologies, watch a 3D printer in action and create their own coding for robots. 

At the end of each session the children were fortunate enough to take their own 3D printed name tags or USB sticks home with them!

A fantastic week all round!

STEM WEEK continued 

Year 5 and 6 have had such an exciting start to their STEM week. After an introduction to what STEM week stands for (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) the children were joined by our guest visitor Mr Hoy from Cutting Edge in Pitstone. Mr Hoy asked the children to design a clock. The best designs from both year groups were selected and within the space of an hour they had been drawn onto a CAD program and cut into a 3-D clock made from the plastic Corian. The process involved using computing skills to redraw the designs and understanding how the mathematical coordinates were relevant to the cutting machines. We then sent the winning designs to the Cutting Edge workshop by email and watched the whole manufacturing process via a Skype link to the workshop. It was a sensational day – so many young inventors were inspired! A HUGE thanks to all the staff at CUTTING EDGE for their voluntary support.

National Space Week 2018

Encouraging creativity through Science, Technology, English and Maths