Science

Purpose and Aims

Purpose:

A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.

Aims:

• To work scientifically
• To understand plants
• To understand animals and humans
• To investigate living things
• To understand evolution and inheritance
• To investigate materials
• To understand movement, forces and magnets
• To understand light and seeing
• To investigate sound and hearing
• To understand electrical circuits
• To understand the Earth’s movement in space

Provision

Our curriculum is categorised in 2 ways

• Breadth - which gives pupils experiences of thinking independently, raising questions and working scientifically and the knowledge and skills that it brings across biology, chemistry and physics with a termly focus on planning skills, data analysis skills and evaluation skills (in line with the Empiribox scheme of work).
• Depth - which helps pupils to think and act like scientists

Whilst coverage is our goal for the “breadth” element, repetition and increasing the understanding via mastery learning is our goal for the “depth” element.

Our curriculum drivers shape our approach to teaching science so that every opportunity is taken to relate science to the needs of our pupils. Science is studied weekly in both Key Stages (one session per week in KS1 and two sessions per week in KS2) and cross curricular links and Learning Outside the Classroom are incorporated where possible and meaningful. The Empiribox scheme ensures that children experience hands on science every week, developing awe and wonder which engages and motivates all pupils.

Progression and Assessment

Our progression has eleven key objectives which mirror the eleven aims of the subject. Children across each Key Stage study the same topic each term but at different levels to meet the needs of each child. We use the Chris Quigley three cognitive domains to ensure each child receives the right support and challenge. It is expected that the vast majority of pupils will have an Advancing understanding by the end of the milestone (KS1, Lower KS2 and Upper KS2) and some will have a Deep understanding.

Assessment and reporting

We will assess the pupil’s depth of understanding each term using tour school assessment tracking system and will use this data to forecast whether pupils are on track to meet our curriculum expectations for the end of the Key Stage.

Why did Harpenden Academy choose to take an Empiribox approach to the teaching and learning of science?

Empiribox believes, as do Harpenden Academy, that science is important; it underpins
every aspect of our lives. Furthermore, at Harpenden Academy, we strongly believe that teaching science with engaging and exciting practical lessons makes learning memorable, not to mention sparking a lifelong passion for the subject.

At Harpenden Academy we want to prepare our children to be young citizens ready for life in the 21^st century. In today’s society, the need for a workforce with science and STEM related qualifications is growing. We believe every primary school child deserves to receive a strong foundation in practical science that will inspire them to choose STEM options and careers in later life.

At Harpenden Academy we have enthusiastic teachers who are committed to science teaching, valuing the importance of practical science sessions where the children discover for themselves. We also have highly articulate and curious children at Harpenden Academy who thrive on hands on learning and learning outside the classroom. Creating an intellectually stimulating curriculum is one of our school development priorities so a challenging science scheme is essential. Empiribox was selected as our Harpenden Academy science scheme because it provides:

• high quality equipment (all the resources for the whole school for investigations are delivered and collected each term);
• high quality resources (access to lesson plans, teacher guides, videos and much more is available via an online portal);
• termly CPD for staff (CPD sessions led by an industry professional to help teachers refresh and enhance skills, not to mention to ignite passion in the teachers which is then passed on the children.

Air Resistance in Year 5

In Science, Dahl class investigated how the size of rotor blades affects the time taken for a helicopter to fall, as part of our learning about air resistance. We turned our data into line graphs, consolidating our maths learning.

Hands on Science Workshops

We had the most lovely start to this half term with the return of Mark, the lovely science man. He arrived on Wednesday with boxes filled with the most wonderful gadgets and gizmos to educate and excite the children's hearts and minds.

EYFS and Key Stage 1 were treated to a workshop on building their own rockets. They learned all about forces, pushes and pulls and had a fantastic time shooting their rockets into the air. Year 3 learned all about biodiversity and learned fascinating facts about identifying the lineage of cheetahs by their footprints - hot off the press research which is currently happening. Year 4 and Year 5 spent the afternoon building elastic racing cars powered by elastic bands. It all became rather exciting as the winning cars had their Formula 1 style winning attempt. Finally, Year 6 dissected lamb hearts in preparation for Year 7 science at secondary school. The children were fascinated by the dissection and truly enjoyed this unique experience.

Sustainability Workshop

The highlight of this week was our sustainability workshop funded by FoHA.

The workshops support one of our four curriculum drives which is sustainability. The children learned all about a special building in Brighton which is 100% sustainable and how this has been a forerunner for similar sustainable buildings around the world.

Ladybirds grew micro-greens and Key Stages 1 and 2 made notebooks from recycled materials. Each class reflected on how sustainable they currently are and discussed how they could act in a more eco-friendly way moving forward in order to 'live greener and cleaner'. It was a really successful set of workshops which we are grateful to have experienced. A big thank you to FoHA for funding the workshops.

Year 5, Careers Visit - Marine Biologist

This week, Year 5 were lucky enough to be joined by Krystal Howard, a Marine Biologist, which linked beautifully to our current topic: ‘Our Changing World’. Krystal wowed Dahl class with amazing photos and facts about the marine life that she studies, bringing in some beautiful shells that we were able to study up close, and learn more about. It was really interesting to learn about the steps Krystal took to achieve her dream job. She gave Year 5 some great top tips of things they can do straight away to find out if a career in Marine Biology might be of interest in the future. How inspired we are!

Reception visit the Pop-Up Pumpkin Farm

On Monday, our Reception class visited the Pumpkin Pop-Up Farm! We learned all about the different types of pumpkin and squash. Ladybirds amazed Ian, the Farmer, with our memories as we could remember the names of all the ones he showed us. We loved searching for our own pumpkins in the field and had great fun climbing on the tractors and the hay bales.

That was such exhausting work that we needed a yummy hot chocolate (or orange juice) to reward us for all our hard work!

Back at school, the children were buzzing with excitement about our morning and we talked about everything we have learned. We have created our own pumpkin patch in the classroom to role play our experiences.

Year 6 Shakespeare Class, Scattergraphs

Year 6 team Shakespeare scientists gathering data for their investigation: what we act does leg length have on distance jumped? They then chose to plot on a scattegraph as there was no correlation between the two.

Year 6, Bones, Muscles and Tendons

Year 6 Team Shakespeare scientists making models of arms and hands to show the connection between bones, muscles and tendons as well as understanding how muscles work in antagonistic pairs - stretching and contracting.

Year 3 Potter Class, Dependent Variables and Measuring

Super scientists in Potter Class have been investigating the question “Do people with the longest legs jump the furthest?” We learned how to identify the dependent variable and measure accurately.

Year 1 Elmer Class, Passing Germs

Year 1 Elmer class continued their learning about passing germs with a glitter experiment. The first person dipped their hands in glitter glue and then we looked at how far we could transfer the glitter germs. We then investigated how long it took to wash our glitter germs away.

Year 1 Elmer Class, Growing Sunflowers

Year 1 Elmer class were very grateful for a parent donation of a sunflower planting kit. The children loved finding their own seed in the old sunflower head and then planting it to start the life cycle all over again.

Year 1 Elmer Class, Transference of Germs

Today Elmer class have been learning about the transference of germs in Science. To get us thinking we made some 'safe snot'

Year 6 visit SJL to learn about reptiles, waves, Ruben's tube and flame tests

SJL "We were delighted to host Year 6 pupils from for a science afternoon! They met Tim and Tyson our reptiles, watched waves in a Ruben’s tube and completed flame tests. A great afternoon!

Year 6 labelling and explaining the parts of a plant

Year 6 scientists labelling and explaining the parts of a flower this week.

Year 6 looking at the Reproductive Part of a Plant

Year 6 scientists looking at the reproductive parts of the plant using microscopes: awe and wonder looking at pollen grains and ovules!

Year 5 dissecting a plant

Year 5 scientist dissecting a plant to identify the parts involved in fertilisation and pollination.

Year 6 investigating Wind and Animal Pollination

Year 6 Scientists investigating wind and animal/insect pollination.

Year 1 making Catapults

Elmer class have been busy making catapults in Science. We had great fun learning about how flexible certain materials are.

Year 5 investigating plants

In Dahl Class, we tested different liquids, colour of light and plant food effects on plant growth!

Year 3 investigating the Capillary Action in a Stem

Creating awe and wonder in Potter class when investigating the capillary action in a stem. Year 3 wanted to find out if the colour of the solution affected the time it took to travel.

Plant Root System, Year 6

Super Year 6 scientists creating a model of a plant roots system in order to test how different factors affect water being absorbed up the roots.

  

Learning about roots in Year 5

Dahl class have also created models to show the function of roots using string and red food dye.

  

Which ball bounces the highest? Year 2

In Science this week in Year 2 Moomin Class we were investigating which ball would bounce the highest. We came up with different ways to test this and how we were going to keep it a fair test. After we had tested the balls we sorted them into a Venn diagram using hoops and discussed the results. 

   

 

Science Week at Harpenden Academy! 

Our Diverse Planet

Pupil Voice - Science Week

Mark, from Empiribox Science, started Science Week off with a bang in assembly!

Ladybird Class got a letter from an elephant today, he was very upset that someone has stock piled all the elephant toothpaste so he asked us to make him some!!

Look at our EYFS Snuffle Station we have created to help encourage the children to be healthy and wash their hands

The children (and staff) were absolutely inspired by our visitors on Tuesday morning - Plant Geneticists from Rothamsted. We were very lucky to learn about the work going on in our locality and the fascinating experiments they are involved in.

Fascinating visit from one of our scientist parents to share his expertise on heart attacks and heart technology such as defibrillators.

Kerr Class had fun today on our first day of science week learning about air resistance. How many eggs did we break?

Y4 Austen started Science week learning about water resistance. The children researched different boat shapes and then conducted an experiment exploring which shape made the quickest boat

Pedal Power!! We loved being competitive and racing against each other. Fantastic links with Science made learning about potential and kinetic energy.

Heart dissection for Year 5 and 6 scientists learning first hand about valves, arteries, veins, ventricles and heart strings

  

 

Year 1/2 Elmer and Aslan class learned about how our blood clots when we are hurt and even made their own blood

  

 

 

Year 1/2 Aslan Class visit Kew Gardens - click on the picture to see more photos of their visit

Year 3 Potter class investigated how forces affect the speed of an object

Science a-go-go, KS2, Forces

The children have been buzzing with excitement this week as we have had experiments exploding all over the place, as we investigate our topic of Forces in KS2.

In assembly we demonstrated the power of carbon dioxide reacting with water in a confined space—all very exciting! Parents can see this on our twitter feed. The science scheme, which we bought through our fundraiser “Grow your Pound”  and a £1000 donation from local business BPH Wealth Management LLP, has really ignited the children’s love of science and their curiosity as to how many things behave as they do.

  

Year 4, Austen class LOVED making their own pop rockets to start their learning about Forces. We also finished the lesson with a good old tug of war using Magdeburg Spheres!

Year 4, Austen Scientists learning about gravity and air resistance

 

KS2 Science Magnetism Workshop

Magnetism workshop for KS2 Science—Scientists buddying up to answer their  magnetism questions about magnetic poles, magnetic fields and magnet strength

More magnetism magic...

  

   

Year 5, Dahl Class, Making Greenhouses

In Science, Dahl class explored the conditions needed for plants to grow. We made our own greenhouses which we have placed in different conditions around school e.g. light/dark, cold, warm. We will continue to monitor them over the coming weeks to find out which conditions are best to enable our seeds to grow!

 

 

 

Kerr and Austen Class visit The Living Rainforest

 

   

KS2 Nature Walks

This week 3 classes have been on a nature walk relating to our Science topic. The children were searching for mini beasts, eggs and plants and observing them in our local habitat. There are still some remaining classes still to do their walks so if parents can volunteer their time to accompany them that would be terrific.

  

Materials and their Properties, Year 6

Great session in Year 6 using concrete materials to explore common factors.

Science Habitats, Year 5 Dahl Class

This week, Dahl class investigated how different factors affect habitats and subsequently, the ability of animals to hibernate. We explored how independent variables, such as the filling used in a box, or the amount of holes in a box affected the dependent variable eg. Light, sound and temperature inside. The children carried out the investigation in small groups and recorded their data which we then used as a class to draw some conclusions about the optimum conditions for hibernation.

Science Training for our KS2 Teachers

Our Key Stage 2 teachers enjoyed an awe-inspiring science training session on Tuesday, including dissecting plants then observing the inside of the anther.

Year 6 scientists planning their own investigations linked to growing old

  

 

Year 6 Habitats in Science

This week Year 6 scientists were designing different habitats to find out what effect different independent variables (such as thickness of walls and type of filling) have on the light, sound and temperature inside the habitat. Our scientists were very excited to use lux meters, decibel meters and thermometers!

 

 

Reception Baking Bread just like 'The Little Red Hen.'

This week we have been making bread just like ‘The Little Red Hen’ in our story. We discussed what the word ingredient meant and then carefully measured everything. At the end of the day we shared the bread and made links between the story and sharing.

Testing the Elasticity of Aging Skin, Year 4 Austen Class

Inspirational Speak in our Assembly today: our Year 5 student talks about her recent liver transplant in aid of 'European Transplant Day.'

 

Cricket Habitats in Science, Year 4 Austen Class

Our Science was literally jumping with excitement in Austen class today as we created new habitats for our crickets! We looked at the independent and dependent variables and will observe them regularly over a long period of time.

Worm-tas-tic Science in Year 5 Dahl Class! 

This week, Dahl class enjoyed their first practical science lesson of the year. The children worked well together as a team to decide what was needed in the wormery and will now be fully responsible for keeping our 26 worms alive! The children have some great ideas about animal lifecycles already and we are all interested to see what happens to our worms over time. We look forward to updating you in a few weeks!

DNA Extraction from Strawberries - Year 6 Shakespeare Class

Today we extracted the DNA of strawberries! Mind-blowing Science Monday!

   

   

  

Lovely Outdoor Learners in Year 2 Aslan Class

Aslan Class have been learning to estimate, measure and compare volume. Initially children looked at the containers and had to estimate how much they thought was in each one. This meant comparing the size of different containers and deciding how much liquid each could hold. Children then measured the amount of liquid in each container by carefully reading the scales. This was tricky as some of the        containers went up in intervals of 5s, 10s and even 100s. Children recorded their findings and discussed how accurate their estimates were.

Year 4 Science – Speeds of chemical reaction

Elsie:

Science was really exciting this week because we carried out an explosion and set things on fire! We were learning about speeds of chemical reactions.  The best part was when we put 3 candles into a tin with sieved icing sugar, Mrs Johnston blew down a tube and the lid flew off with a ball of fire!

Harry:

I loved Science this week because we got to do lots of different experiments including an explosion, setting ethanol on fire and reacting rhubarb with potassium permanganate.  My favourite bit was seeing the explosion in the Hall because when Mrs Johnston blew the pipe to get the oxygen into the tin; the fire burst out of the lid much bigger that I thought it would.

Science In Action, KS2

This week KS2 have been chemists, experimenting with various chemicals to find out about endothermic and exothermic changes. What a buzz in each and every classroom as liquids foamed and fizzed, changed colour and temperature - all signs of the irreversible nature of the changes. I wonder what we'll be experimenting with next week....

 

Staff Training, Empiribox Chemistry Training

On Tuesday Our KS2 teachers took part in chemistry training with Empiribox; the children are in for a treat next term with lots of bangs, fire and magical changes of state!

  

Reception, Our Senses

This week we explored our senses. We looked at our sense of smell by painting with tea bags! We used orange, peach, summer fruits, green tea and elderflower. The children predicted which colours the tea would be and what they would smell like.

We also explored our sense of taste and showed a great growth mindset when trying grapefruit, lemon and lime! We then had to see if we could tell the difference between sweet and salty popcorn. The children had such fun and were using language like “it’s so sour” “this tastes like a lemon and an orange mixed together!”

Science Week

Harpenden Academy on Tour

EYFS, Duckling Egg Hatching

EYFS are being eggsperts today, watching and waiting for these to hatch....

We have our first duckling!!!! The staff are weeping tears of joy and we are so excited to see the children's reaction tmw

 

Key Stage 1, Trip to Woodside Farm

At Woodside Farm we saw an unusual bird called a Rhea, a Gloucester Old Spot Pig and a Shetland Pony. The children got to handle a Chinchilla, a Bearded Dragon, a Chick and a Corn Snake. The children then got the opportunity to go on a real working tractor which took the children on a journey around the farm.

  

 

Key Stage 2, Trip to The National Space Centre in Leicester

Look at Year 6's persuasive writing skills in their publicity leaflets. They are designed to persuade you to visit the Space Centre:

Tom and Digby

Felix and Elliot G 

Bubble Fun, Reception & Year 1

Having fun during science week, answering all of our bubble questions that we generated in Year 1 and Reception.

  

Monitoring our Heart rates, Year 2

In Science this week KS1 began looking at the effect of exercise on heart rate. We tried to measure our heart rate before, during and after exercise.

3D Solar Systems, Year 6

This week the children have been creating their own 3D solar systems, learning about the relative temperatures and features of each planet. They have also been conducting their own independent research on aspects of the solar system that interest them.

    

Key Stage 2 Solar System

This week children across KS2 have been exploring the solar system as part of our new science topic - Space, Light and Shadows. In particular our young scientists have been learning to describe the position and relationship between the planets. A range of exciting hands on activities have taken place throughout the Key Stage, including creating scale models of the solar system in the playground using string and chalk with a ratio of 1: 1 million. Even with this ratio, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune couldn't fit in our playground so the children estimated where in Harpenden town centre the planets might sit! Super scientific exploration Year Six!

Year 1 - Form to Fork

Learning where our breakfast comes from and designing a healthy menu