At Oakridge School, our aim is to build a love of Science by enthusing children through their natural curiosity and sense of awe about the world around them. Science provides pupils with opportunities to learn through practical, first-hand experiences, as well as through high-quality secondary sources, enabling them to develop a secure understanding of the world in which they live through the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics.

Our Science curriculum is broad, balanced and carefully sequenced from Year 1 to Year 6. Pupils build on prior learning as they develop key scientific knowledge, vocabulary and enquiry skills. They learn to observe, identify, classify, compare, predict, investigate, measure, record and draw conclusions using evidence. Through this, children are encouraged to think and work like scientists: asking questions, testing ideas, communicating their findings and evaluating what they have discovered.

Each Science unit is shaped around a Big Question, helping pupils to think deeply about scientific concepts and make meaningful links between their learning, everyday life and the wider world. Across the school, children study a wide range of topics including materials, plants, animals including humans, living things and their habitats, forces, light, sound, electricity, Earth and space, evolution and inheritance.

Children learn that Science is a powerful tool for understanding the world and solving problems. They explore scientific discoveries and the work of significant scientists, recognising how their contributions have shaped society and improved lives. Our Oakridge Threads are woven through the Science curriculum, with links to areas such as Technology and Progress, Environment, Equality and Diversity, Culture and Society, Democracy, and Social Mobility and Aspirations. This helps pupils understand the role of Science in society and supports them to see themselves as future scientists, innovators and problem-solvers.

We also enrich our Science curriculum through visits, workshops and wider experiences, including animal encounters, links with local secondary schools, visits to places such as the Science Museum and The Living Rainforest, and opportunities to learn from people working in scientific fields. These experiences help bring Science to life and deepen pupils’ curiosity, knowledge and aspirations.

By the time pupils leave Oakridge, we want them to be curious, confident and knowledgeable young scientists who can use evidence, enquiry and scientific vocabulary to explore, explain and understand the world around them.