Science Subject Leader - Rachel Allenby

email - allenbyr@ojs.rklt.co.uk

Our Vision for Science!

At Oatlands Junior School, the high-quality Science Curriculum provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. All children learn about the essential aspects of Science including: knowledge, methods and processes, as well as developing a natural curiosity about different phenomena. Children are encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse what has happened.

Long Term Plan

Key Knowledge

Our Science Superheroes!

How is science taught and what does it look like at Oatlands?

At OJS, we are all scientists! We want our children to be informed, inquisitive, enthusiastic and able to ask and answer questions across the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. In order to do this, we ensure that in our weekly science lessons:

• We focus upon the development of 'working scientifically' skills, including observing over time, pattern seeking and comparative and fair testing, through frequent practical investigation. We want science to be 'hands on' and accessible for all children!
• Children have the opportunity to apply acquired scientific knowledge to real life situations, from designing their own flowers to creating new breeds of animal and suggesting improvements to our own local habitats! We want children to appreciate the importance and relevance of their science learning.
• Scientific vocabulary is modelled by teachers and used regularly by children. We want them to leave our school able to speak about science with confidence and clarity!
• Children have the opportunity to answer and ask their own questions about our a range of scientific topics, from Plants and Light to Earth and Space and Evolution. We want our children to be curious about and understand the world in which we live!
• Children practise regularly using a range of scientific apparatus, from trundle wheels, measuring cylinders and pipettes to Newton-metres when studying Forces and cells, wires and switches during their Electricity learning! We want our pupils to have the practical skills they need to answer questions they have about the world around us!
• Children receive and have the chance to respond regularly to feedback in order to make the best progress with their learning.

Extra-curricular events, including visits from people working in STEM fields, enhance children's classroom learning and emphasise the significance of science beyond the school walls.

Classroom displays to support learning!

What will my child will leave OJS knowing, understanding and appreciating in science?

At Oatlands, we want all children to leave our school not only with a curiosity about the world around them but the requisite skills to be able to explore, answer and explain their conclusions about the questions they have. By the end of Year 6, children will have covered topics across the disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics and have used each of the five types of scientific enquiry - observing over time, comparative and fair testing, research using secondary sources, pattern spotting and identifying, grouping and classifying - to explore these. Children will have used apparatus from measuring cylinders and pipettes to Newton-metres and tuning forks and recorded results obtained in a variety of styles. 

Children will recognise famous scientists and the impact their work has had and be enthusiastic about the future careers open to them as a result of their own scientific studies. Off-site visits to an arboretum and the Great Yorkshire Showground and in-school visits from professional scientists will have supported and enhanced your child's classroom learning.

What do pupils at OJS think about science?

'We always do awesome experiments!' - Year 3 pupil

'I love the egg challenge when you had to place it in Coca-Cola, it smelled really bad! We also planted bulbs, I think daffodils.' - Year 4 pupil

'I love discovering all sorts of things I didn’t know and doing experiments where I put my brain to the test!' - Year 5 pupil

'It is very interesting and you learn a lot of new things.' - Year 5 pupil

'I like the experiments we do and the cool subjects like evolution and inheritance!' - Year 6 pupil

'I like how we are learning about similarities and how things are the same between our parents!' - Year 6 pupil

2021 - 2022

British Science Week 2022!

The 10th to the 19th March 2022 marked the annual British Science Week celebration and we have enjoyed celebrating around school! As well as exploring this year’s theme of ‘Growth’ during our science lessons and as part of a nationwide poster competition, we have carried out a range of ‘Speed Science’ investigations. We discovered exactly why the Statue of Liberty is green, tested our own reaction speeds and created fireworks (mostly!) in jars! The organisers of British Science Week know how important it is to get ‘Smashing Stereotypes’, such as the idea that science has to be carried out in a laboratory with a white coat and the children definitely achieved that over the five days of our celebration! Well done to everyone for your enthusiasm, curiosity and hard work!

Abbie Ayre and the Shed of Science. 

Today all of the Year 5 children enjoyed a fabulous production by Abbie Ayre and the Shed of Science. We learned all about air pollution and its causes, as well as ways that we can help to reduce air pollution in our own lives. This afternoon, we will be looking at planning a 'Clean Air Day' - watch this space! 

Year 5 Science Week

A huge well done to all of the Year 5's this week. We have had a fantastic week learning all about science. All of the children have enjoyed planning their experiments linked to our Science Superheroes:

Comparative and fair testing

Observing over time

Pattern seeking

Identifying, classifying and grouping

Researching using secondary sources

A massive thank you to Mrs Moore, who really helped to bring science to life!

2018-2019

Science in Upper School - Spring Term

The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about Light and how we see. The highlight was definitely the eye tasting! We have also enjoyed making accurate models of the eye and investigating how light travels. We will be extending our learning of Light next term, as well as looking at our new topic Sound.

Eyeballs.....

To launch our new science topic LIGHT in upper school, we had a little bit of fun. Each child had an eyeball to touch, smell and taste. I was really impressed with those children who were brave enough to taste it without looking at it first. The children were very relieved to find out that they were actually eating lychees stuffed with raisins, not real eyeballs!!! Mrs Scarth even had a taste!

Planetarium Visit

This week, Year 5 and Year 6 children experienced the Planetarium, as part of our science topic on Earth and Space. The Planetarium is a massive dome that projects images and videos of different planets in the solar system. We toured the solar system, landed on the moon, flew through Jupiter’s moon and glided along the ice rings of Saturn. It was an amazing experience enjoyed by all!

Scientist of the Week

Isaac Newton

Scientist, Mathematician and astronomer

Lived: 1642 - 1727 in England

Newton studied at Cambridge University and is famous for developing the Theory of Gravity and the Laws of Motion, which you will learn about in Year 6. He also invented a new type of mathematics that we call calculus nowadays, and the reflecting telescope. A reflecting telescope uses mirrors to reflect light and form an image and it is how most modern telescopes work today.

Click here to find out more information!

Science 2017-2018

Mr Ko-Ferrigno

A huge thank you to Mr Ko-Ferrigno for taking the time to work with 5/6C and 6M. It was fascinating to hear all about bacteria (the good and the bad) and its uses from an expert. We thoroughly enjoyed the session, especially the chance to try to grow our own bacteria. Throughout this week, we will be keeping an eye on our experiments and will write a report about our findings! Watch this space!

In Science week, 4H were lucky enough to have a visit from Anna's mum, Dr Kirkup, a GP. She showed them lots of cool stuff, from which plants make medicines to what some of the equipment is for. They even got to test some [fake] urine samples to see what conditions or illnesses people might have. It was a lot of fun!

4H also enjoyed learning about non-Newtonian fluids, hitting and gently touching a mixture of cornflour and water to see what happened. It was interesting to see how it behaved as a solid one minute and a liquid the next, depending on the force that was put on it!

Science Week in Year 3

Year 3 celebrated Science Week by conducting a number of Science projects and investigations. We started the week by designing and building an Oatlands Bug Hotel and the children absolutely loved designing habitats for creepy crawlies and foraging around the playground to find materials to create them. We also investigated air resistance by making parachutes out of different materials and testing how effective they were by timing how long it took them to fall. Finally, on Friday, we had a really interesting and informative visit from pediatrician Dr Mona. She told us all about how she uses science on a daily basis to help diagnose poorly children and then find the right medicines to help make them better. 

Cheetahs Science Week 2018

Cheetahs have had an incredibly busy Science Week!

We kicked off the week by making our very own lava lamps. To do this we used a clear plastic bottle, water, food colouring and effervescent fizzing tablets to create the movement. We investigated the different types of liquid and why they separated. The water and food colouring sank to the bottom and the oil sat on top. Once we had carefully poured all the liquid into the bottles (which is much trickier and more slippy than it looks!), we put in a fizzing tablet which reacted with the water causing it to rise to the top. See the video below to watch McKenzie's lava lamp in action.

Our second activity was making a 'Galaxy in a jar' - this we really fun! We used a jam jar, cotton wool, paint, water and glitter to create a galaxy effect. They look really good!

We have also looked at chromatography this week. Chromatography is the scientific word for colour splitting. We used filter paper, coloured pens and water to find out the base colours which made up the pens. This was really interesting and not all of our predictions were correct. 

On Friday, Mr Ko-Ferrigno (one of our school governors and a scientist) came into our classroom to talk to us all about his job and the work he does with bacteria. We found out how tiny bacteria actually is and all of the good and bad bacteria there is. To finish off, we had a go at swabbing areas in our classroom to see how much bacteria is living on the things we use every day. We swabbed the light switch, our pencils door handles and even Miss Mansfield's keyboard! Watch this space to see how much bacteria there is in 6M. 

Mrs Brett (Chloe's mum) also came in to visit us this week to talk all about her job as a midwife. She spoke to us about all the different roles she has in the community and how important the job is.

Thank you to all adults at home who have supported the class this week bringing in equipment and volunteering in class - you help is always very much appreciated!

Meerkats Visit from Mr Lusted

A special thank you to Archie's dad for visiting our class this morning to tell us all about his job as a Director of Programme Management. It was really interesting to hear about the different projects he looks after around the world.

Science Week in Macaws class 

We have had a fantastic week planning our own investigations for Science Week. Some of us made slime, some made oobleck and some of us made our own volcanos using coke and Mentos. We also wrote our own secret messages using invisible ink (lemon juice)!

We also got to take part in Mr Lusted's visit to our school to tell us all about his job as a Director of Programme Management. It was really interesting to get involved and have a go at taking apart a TV box set. 

Science Week begins in Flamingos class!

We have had a great start to our Science week. On Monday, we made splat monsters, based on 'Flanimals'. Later this week we will be painting them, giving them their Latin names, thinking about their habitats, predators and prey. Watch this space for the finished creatures.

On Tuesday afternoon, Elsa's mum brought a very special visitor to our class. Eddie the skeleton came to see us! Miss Gordon spoke to the Flamingos about her job as an osteopath, and told us some interesting facts about bones.

We also made our own lava lamps, and eventually (after a very gloopy start!) we all managed to make our own slime. A very messy afternoon, but we had lots of fun!

Science Week in Tigers Class

We have had a fantastic Science Week in 5M. Our investigation skills have been well and truly put to the test creating a reaction with Mentos and Coke...it's been quite messy, but lots of fun! A big thank you also to our visitor Dr Gardner, who talked to us all about her job as a GP.

Science Week 2018

We have had a fantastic start to Science Week in 5/6C. Our investigation skills have been well and truly put to the test from making SLIME to rubber eggs...it's been quite messy, but lots of fun!

Science Week 2018

The week of the 11th June is our school Science week. We would very much like to invite a parent or carer, who has a profession linked to science, to come into school to share with the class what they do. If this is relevant for you and you would be willing to come into school, at some point within the week beginning 11th June, please your child’s class teacher directly. Email addresses for class teachers can be found on the school website.

Thank you,

Mrs Rachel Coyne

Lower School Spring 2018

This term, lower school have really enjoyed their Science topic - 'Forces and Magnets'. 

Upper School Spring 2018

This term, upper school have really enjoyed their Science topic - 'Evolution and Inheritance'. 

Science across school.

This week I have been lucky enough to visit a few of the classes around school. It has been wonderful to see real hands-on learning for Science. I also spoke to a lovely group on children about their Science experience at Oatlands. The feedback and enthusiasm when talking about Science was excellent! The children have some fantastic ideas about Science Week 2018 - watch this space!