Lower School Science
Key Stage 2 Curriculum
The Key Stage 2 Science curriculum at OLA follows a number of Science schemes including The Association for Science Education.
In all year groups, emphasis is placed on developing scientific enquiry skills, encouraging the children to consider ideas, evaluate evidence, plan, investigate, record and analyse data.
Pupils in Years 3 and 4 are taught by Form Tutors who focus on introducing the important scientific concepts using interactive resources and child-friendly, hands-on experiments.
Pupils in Years 5 and 6 are taught by the specialist Science teachers from our Senior School. Lessons are taught in the fully equipped Science laboratories where they learn additional technical skills and how to use more advanced equipment such as Bunsen burners and microscopes.
Cross-curricular opportunities are used to develop scientific themes through History, ICT, Creative Writing, Mathematics and Visual Arts.
Science Week
Our whole-school Science Week is centred around a theme such as ‘Flight’, ‘Space’ or ‘Journeys Through Nature’. In recent years we have welcomed experts in fields such as Falconry, Crime Scene Investigation and Environmental Recycling.
Children love to explore their environment and we are very fortunate to have our own pond, gardens, wildlife and Forest School areas. In addition, use is made of local environmental education centres, museums and visiting scientists, not just during Science Week but throughout the school year.
Lower School Science Stories
Year 4 String Telephones
Last Friday we made string telephones in Science. We tested shorter and longer strings and thinner and thicker strings.
We found that the thick string was better at transmitting the sound. The vibrations go through the cup and through the string to the other cup where your partner is standing.
If you touched the string gently you could feel the vibrations. If you took hold of the string the vibrations would stop and the sound waves wouldn’t reach your partner’s ear.
Year 4 on the Hunt for Invertebrates
Working remotely did not stop Year 4 from taking part in a class invertebrate hunt as part of their Science topic on Living Things and their Habitats.
Many of the children enjoyed the experience of continuing the Zoom lesson outside in their own gardens and the class were able to experience some real time bug hunting Steve Backshall style. The teachers were on hand in their own garden, ready to help with some of the trickier identifications!
Years 5 and 6 Science
Years 5 and 6 have been looking at the subject of Animal Adaptations and in particular Charles Darwin who came up with the theory of Natural Selection following his expedition to the Galapagos Islands. The pupils learned that the islands were originally formed from volcanoes and were given the challenge of creating their own working volcanoes.
In their homes they carefully and safely followed instructions, using household ingredients, to make their working volcanoes considering how varying the quantities of the ingredients affected the fizziness of the result!