Science

Science at Pakefield

2025 Science Photography Competition entries.

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Pakefield Primary School has a clear vision for Science, and we inspire our pupils to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future. Through exploring biology, chemistry and physics, our children achieve scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding to encourage their ambition for learning and may even inspire a future generation of Einsteins and Marie Curies! Instilling a sense of wonder and amazement in our children is at the heart of what we teach in Science at Pakefield.

Learning in the community encourages an understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science so our children will be confident to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them. Children find answers to questions through collecting, analysing and presenting data and use different types of scientific enquiry, including observing changes over a period of time, noticing patterns, grouping and classifying things, carrying out simple comparative tests, and finding things out using secondary sources of information. As much as possible our children design and lead their own investigations and experiments. We believe passionately that our children learn the most about science when they are challenged to explore and discover things for themselves.

We encourage the children to embrace science in every aspect of their lives, not just in science lessons at school. We have an excellent wildlife garden for them to explore and love to hear about all their scientific discoveries at home too!

Science at Pakefield links to many other subjects, including English, Maths, Art, PE and Computing which helps to increase attainment across the board.

The national curriculum for science aims to ensure that all pupils:

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;
Are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future.

The Three Science Strands:

Biology - The study of living organisms, their structure, adaptations and environment.
Topics include: Plants, Animals including Humans, Living things and their Habitats and Evolution and Inheritance.

Chemistry – Chemistry is a field of science that studies the properties of matter and how matter interacts with energy.
Topics include: States of Matter, Everyday Materials, Properties and Changes of Materials and Rocks.

Physics - The part of science which studies energy and how it behaves.
Topics Include: Seasonal Changes, Light, Forces and Magnets, Sound, Electricity and Earth and Space.

Our Science Principles:

The Ogden Trust
Over the last 5 years we have been part of the Ogden Trust working collaboratively with colleagues within the North Suffolk ALT hub. The Ogden Trust aims to increase the uptake of physics post-16 by supporting physics education and engagement for all young people (4-18). The Trust supports schools, teachers, projects and programmes that are committed to enhancing physics teaching and learning.

As part of our work, we regularly have staff CPD which provides us with new equipment to use in science whilst ensuring staff teaching these physics units have the subject knowledge required. During our time in the partnership, we have been able to run multiple events for our children such as parent share sessions, Science Boffin visits, events with other ALT schools in our hub, developed the role of science ambassadors and held science competitions.

PSQM GILT

Primary Science Quality Mark is a one-year school improvement programme for primary science, it is led by the University of Hertfordshire in collaboration with the Primary Science Teaching Trust.
In 2022, we successfully achieved our PSQM GILT award which is an award for schools which demonstrate how established science leadership is having a sustained impact on science teaching and learning across the school.

Our accessor said:
“This is an excellent submission with many strengths. It meets the criteria and exhibits a real and concerted effort to develop the science curriculum successfully. As a result of this, teaching and learning are more effective and pupils are more engaged with the subject.

I would particularly like to commend three aspects of the submission. It is clear that expectations are high both of teachers and pupils and that this has been achieved through a range of means. The school has been very effective at building on its prior developments and achievements, recognising what it does

well and focusing on next steps. It is also very good at analysing evidence to judge if developments are working.”

Knowledge Organisers

Our Science Knowledge organisers have been designed for each unit that the children will be taught, from Year 2 to 6. They clearly outline the content of our curriculum which will be covered and the vocabulary that is important to know. They also provide previous learning objectives to show the progression.

Year 2 - Autumn Year 2 - Spring Year 2 - Summer

Year 3 - Autumn Year 3 - Spring Year 3 - Summer

Year 4 - Autumn Year 4 - Spring Year 4 - Summer

Year 5 - Autumn Year 5 - Spring Year 5 - Summer

Year 6 - Autumn Year 6 - Spring Year 6 - Summer