Scientific learning at Temple Grove Academy is fun and exciting. This is because of the emphasis on practical science investigation that we have in our school’s curriculum. As the children explore each concept, small practical experiences are used to illustrate an idea or demonstrate a principle. These smaller investigations pave the way for larger, more formal experiments and their associated learning.
Temple Grove is fortunate to be in a position to provide well-resourced scientific experiences and investigations so that all children are able to be fully involved in practical science. This allows them to achieve a depth of understanding that would not be possible were they relegated to the role of passive spectators of teacher-led demonstrations.
To achieve the desired depth of learning, our science units span two terms. This lets the children fully explore a topic and make links with other science learning they have undertaken or other curriculum areas in which they have an interest.
The areas of study undertaken each term in 2018-2019 are outlined below. Note that Years 2-6 nominally have the same headlined topic, but each year group engages in learning that is pitched to match the expectations of the National Science Curriculum for that age of pupil. In 2019-2020, students will have a new programme of study as our curriculum runs on a four-year cycle.
Year 1
Terms 1 & 2
Materials and their Properties
Terms 3 & 4
Habitats and Seasonal Changes
Terms 5 & 6
Our Living Earth
Years 2 to 6
Terms 1 & 2
Being Human and Senses
Explores how humans and other animals experience the world through their senses. Children learn about the mechanics of their sensory systems as well as how our use of sight, smell, taste, and touch affects how we think about the world.
Terms 3 & 4
Living Things and Evolution
Students discover that the world undergoes perpetual change and learn about how living things continually adapt to their ever-shifting environments.
Terms 5 & 6
Magnetism and other Forces
Through a series of exciting experiments, students learn about the mechanics of attraction and repulsion, movement and energy transfer in their environment.