Science

At the Fern Academy we want our children to have an interest in science and how it impacts our daily lives. We want them to constantly be asking questions, both ‘big’ and ‘small’, as they seek to better understand the world they live in and the fundamental scientific laws that govern it, from gravity to evolution to the way light travels. Moreover, we want to ensure that they understand the role that science (and scientists) has played in our past and how it will continue to play a vital role in our future, especially in the areas of healthcare and the environment. By the time that they leave education, we want all children to have become informed, curious, scientifically literate citizens, and our science curriculum is designed to build the broad foundations of that goal.

During science lessons, we will ensure that children are given the opportunity to ask ambitious questions and then plan and conduct investigations with the aim of answering these questions. In Years 1 and 2 their natural curiosity should be encouraged, and pupils will be given the opportunity to talk about what they have found out. In Years 3 and 4, children will explore, talk about, test and develop ideas and begin to make some decisions about which types of scientific enquiry would be most effective. In Years 5 and 6, they will encounter more abstract ideas and begin to recognise that scientific ideas change and develop over time. Children will draw conclusions, use evidence to justify their ideas and use their understanding to explain their findings.

It is key that knowledge content and practical skills are taught hand-in-hand, with children developing and building on their factual knowledge as they journey through the school, making links between topics applying skills and understanding from previous learning to new areas as they are met. As part of this it is also vital that they are exposed to and specifically taught the essential scientific vocabulary related to each topic in order to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding effectively.

Please click on the button below for more information about our Science Knowledge and Skills Progression.

Science Knowledge and Skills Progression

Dates: British Science Week 2025 will take place from March 7–16, 2025. The theme for 2025 is "Change and Adapt".

As part of British Science Week 2024, the children were invited to design or make a Time Machine.

Science trips last year:

Rabbits – Queenswood

Red - Squirrels Waterworks Museum

Owls - National Space Centre in Leicester

Local Places of interest:

There are a number of sites in Herefordshire you can visit to help satisfy enquiring young minds:

Queenswood, Newbridge Farm, Hereford Waterworks museum, Weir Garden, Kenchester Water Gardens, Credenhill Park Woods, Hereford Society of Model Engineers.