OUR VISION FOR SCIENCE AT BELL FARM PRIMARY SCHOOL
At Bell Farm our vision is to give children a Science curriculum which enables them to explore and discover the world around them, confidently, so that they have a deeper understanding of the world we live in. Our aim is to provide a stimulating Science curriculum that nurtures children’s natural curiosity and allows them to ask questions and develop the skills they need to answer those questions. We believe that, as our children are living in a highly scientific and technological world, it is essential that we ensure that they acquire and develop the scientific skills, attitude, knowledge and understanding that they need in order to understand the world around them. Science is an integral part of everyday life and it is important that children are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. Delivering a high quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.
Above all, we believe that Science is a practical subject, which stimulates children’s curiosity about the world we live in. Through a hands-on, enquiry-based curriculum, children will experience the joy of having wonderful ideas that they can explore and investigate. As children progress through the school they will study a range of scientific topics, including plants, animals (including humans), living things and their habitats, everyday materials and their uses, seasonal changes, light, sound, electricity, Earth and space, forces and evolution. Through investigations children will develop an enquiring mind, a logical thought process and a scientific approach to problem solving. They are encouraged to investigate problems through close observations, classifying, planning, predicting, fair testing, measuring and recording data, interpreting results and making conclusions based upon scientific knowledge. Our aim is that these stimulating and challenging experiences help children secure and extend their scientific knowledge and vocabulary.
At Bell Farm there is a whole school ethos of understanding and caring for the world around us and an understanding of our responsibility towards both the immediate and wider environment and community. Through our value-led curriculum our aim is to develop a concern and a responsible attitude towards the environment and an understanding of how we can help protect it. Environmental awareness in science is developed through topics such as living things and their habitats and plants.
At Bell Farm we value our extensive grounds and strive to offer the best in Outdoor Education. In science, outdoor learning is an important way of contextualising science, providing a meaningful way to engage learners in the environmental around them and helps children to connect with nature. The ‘outdoor classroom’ provides a meaningful way to engage learners in practical science, giving them experience of collecting and analysing data, and making predictions in the real world.
A fundamental part of our approach at Bell farm is to foster community links and members of the community are regularly invited into school to share their experience and expertise in a particular Science topic with the children. Our community school link with BP, involves experts from BP delivering exciting science workshops designed to stimulate the children’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder about the world.
Through our Science curriculum we aim to broaden the children’s scientific view of the world around them, whilst promoting a love for enquiry and wanting to explore new things.
“The process of scientific discovery is, in effect, a continual flight of wonder.”
By Albert Einstein