At Brookfield Junior School we aim to instil a passion for Science within each child, providing many opportunities to engage their interest and develop their inquisitive enthusiasm.
The children have 12 hourly sessions of Science each term. These sessions are taught over a three week block, aimed at allowing children to develop knowledge smoothly on a day-to-day basis.
Lessons are arranged differently throughout the course of a block, some lessons requiring multiple hourly sessions to achieve success.
We organise their science experiences so that they are a combination of active and practical tasks; allowing the children to learn the understanding behind why things happen, while also allowing them practical, hands on experiences, to see how science works.
We also provide many opportunities outside of the classroom to engage and encourage our children to think scientifically.
1. Our school chickens. The pupils are involved in the care of our hens, taking it in turns to feed and clean, and collect the eggs.
2. The Bird-Box project – designed to allow children to see the nesting process of a bird and their hatchlings develop from the eggs cracking, to them having the confidence to fly into the outside world.
3. Our Science T-shirts help our children to recall science vocabulary and to consolidate and revise their understanding of themes and topics within their science learning.
4. Different year groups attend different trips throughout the year, aimed at developing their knowledge in one particular area.
5. We welcome visitors to our school, to support our teaching of different aspects of Science, as well as help develop our children further with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) challenges.
6. We are holding three whole school STEM days this year, to provide the children with experiences that require them to incorporate their scientific understanding with Maths, Engineering and Technology.
7. We run a STEM competition, asking our families to become involved with the development of strategies of overcome a particular problem.
8. We show-case our Science and STEM learning at a Science Fair – where parents and other schools are welcomed to share the learning we have achieved.