Kanes Hill
Science
At Kanes Hill Primary School, our Science curriculum inspires pupils to explore, question, and understand the world around them. Through hands-on experiments, investigations, and observations, children develop scientific knowledge, curiosity, and critical thinking skills. Science lessons encourage pupils to ask questions, make predictions, test ideas, and draw conclusions, helping them build confidence in their ability to explore both the natural and physical world. Our approach fosters a love of discovery and encourages pupils to apply scientific learning in everyday life.
Curriculum Statement
Intent
At Kanes Hill Primary School, we recognise the value and importance of science, both in its rich past, and shaping the future of our world. As such, we foster the curiosity, awe and wonder needed in our children, in order for them to access our comprehensive provision to its full. Our children will feel confident in asking pertinent questions, and will feel equipped to pursue the answers to these through high-quality scientific working. Pupils across our school will feel encouraged to explore the world around them, and excited to do so.
Implementation
All science teaching will begin with secure subject knowledge based on the broad and thorough National Curriculum. Knowledge will be built upon from year 1-6. Science will be taught in topics ensuring the importance of the subject remains in the forefront. Resources will be readily accessible and broad.
Science knowledge organisers are in place to ensure that:
- Staff have secure scientific knowledge
- There is precise understanding of the specific scientific concepts
- Key knowledge and skills are planned for
- Links to prior science learning are built upon
- Science vocabulary is accurately used and evident across the school.
- Science curiosity and fostering of this love of learning is ubiquitous within the school
Our INSPIRE values within science:
Integrity - Children will work fairly and scientifically, using resilience when faced with challenges.
Nurture - Adults will foster children’s curiosity, and children will work collaboratively to achieve.
Success - Every individual will be able to achieve their full potential, and succeed in progressing in their science understanding.
Passion - Children will be excited and engaged in their science learning, with high-levels of curiosity throughout their learning.
Innovation - Science is a dynamic subject, and our ability to adapt to the most current understanding is key to high-quality science education.
Responsibility - Children will be charged with the independence to research and explore the world around them.
Excellence - High standards will be prevalent across the school.
Intent
By the end of EYFS, children should be able to:
- Ask questions about the world around them.
- Orally express simple observations and use drawing to show findings.
- Make simple predictions (using drawing to express them.)
- Foster a natural curiosity.
- Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments (drawing on own experiences and in class learning.)
- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them (including the seasons and changing states of matter.)
By the end of KS1, children should be able to:
- Be curious and ask simple scientific questions about what they notice using observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions.
- Use simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas, to a variety of audiences, in differing ways (using the language of the ‘Working Scientifically’ wheel)
- Observe closely, using simple equipment, noting changes over a period of time and patterns.
- Perform simple comparative tests and pupil led enquiries using first hand experiences and some secondary sources.
- Identify, group and classify.
- Gather and record simple data to help answer questions.
- Read and spell scientific vocabulary at a level consistent with KS1 word reading and spelling knowledge
By the end of lower KS2, children should be able to:
- Ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them.
- Set up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests.
- Make systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, take measurements in standard units.
- Gather, record, classify and present data in a variety of ways to help answer questions.
- Record findings (using the language of the ‘Working Scientifically’ wheel.)
- Report on findings from enquiries, including written and oral explanations (using the language of the ‘Working Scientifically’ wheel.)
By the end of upper KS2, children should be able to:
- Plan different scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary.
- Take increasingly accurate measurements using a range of equipment.
- Record data and results of increasing complexity using diagrams, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs.
- Use test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests.
- Use the language of the ‘Working Scientifically’ wheel, to report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of a degree of trust of results (in oral and written forms.)
- Draw on scientific evidence that has been used to report or refute scientific arguments
Science Progression
whole school science progression.pdf
Working Scientifically
Knowledge Organisers
Year 1
year 1 science materials 1 .pdf
Year 2
year 2 materials knowledge organiser science.pdf
year 2 knowledge organiser summer 1 living things 1 .pdf
Year 3
forces magnets flipbook 1 .pdf
from the ground up flipbook.pdf
Year 4
y4 electricity flipbook 1 .pdf
y4 living things flipbook 2 .pdf
Year 5
y5 knowledge organiser summer 2 forces.pdf
Year 6
y6 light and electricity flipbook 1 .pdf
y6 materials and their properties flipbook 2 .pdf
Science Day
Science Day 2025 was truly out of this world. Every child in the school was frozen to the spot by Dr. Jess and the experiments she did with liquid nitrogen. A small team from the astrophysics department at Southampton University took our KS2 children on a journey beyond the stars in the astrodome and children in KS1 had a go at making poo and tying bandages in a nursing workshop with Nurse Emma. The children worked scientifically to create bridges, ziplines and hot air balloons to help Yogi Bear cross a ravine and the whole school came together at the end of the day to celebrate the ‘Wild Lab’ project. The children came to school in fantastic science themed costumes and the kitchen served up a special science themed menu. A great day was had by all!
Wild Lab Wild Citizens
In December 2021, 40 children from Years 3 & 4 signed up to be a part of the ‘Wild Lab’ after school club. They explored the biodiversity around our school and built hedgehog tunnels to find out whether or not any hedgehogs were using the school at night. They installed a special bird box for swifts and they are going to start playing swift calls on a speaker to attract these birds to our school. The children have helped put up bat boxes and Sam Munslow, an ecologist from Southampton City Council, even brought a bat into school for them to meet. They have built bug houses and planted almost 1000 plants and trees, creating the ‘Jubilee Hedgerow’ at the back of the field. Southampton University have funded the whole project and have brought us lots of equipment to help develop our school grounds; including a night vision camera that we hope to have set up very soon. Some of the children have visited the university to share their learning at their Science and Engineering festival and another group got to visit the wind tunnels at the university after presenting to other schools and academics. This exciting project has now be rolled out to other schools across the city and we are excited to see it continue to grow over the coming months and years.
Sensory Garden
