Science and Technological Understanding

At Forest Primary School, we believe that Science learning is fundamental to exploring, understanding and influencing the natural and made worlds in which we live.  It offers a wealth of experiences and ideas that encourage children’s natural curiosity and creativity, inspiring awe and wonder.  Science supports the development of technology that leads to new scientific discoveries, shaping how we live safe and healthy lives in our rapidly changing society.  It helps children to find new ways of looking at the world and to engage with changing explanations about how the world works.

Through the teaching of Science, children develop knowledge and skills, linking concepts together and applying prior understanding to new learning and situations.  They learn about Science as a subject discipline and the importance of scientists on our everyday lives and the world around us.  Children learn to value ideas and to see talking, thinking and imagining as essential elements in developing understanding.  They tackle problems, form questions, generate and test ideas, and decide how to seek solutions.  They gather and make sense of evidence, test out hypotheses and evaluate processes and outcomes.  They learn the possibilities of science, inspiring them to become the scientists, engineers and innovators of the future.

At Forest Primary School we aim to prepare our children for their future through developing knowledge and skills that will equip them for an ever changing digital world. Technology will play a pivotal part in their lives so we want to model and educate our children on how to use technology positively, responsibly and safely. We want our children to be creators as well as consumers and so our curriculum focuses on a progression of skills in digital literacy, computer science and digital citizenship. These strands are revisited repeatedly through a range of themes during children’s time in school to ensure the learning is embedded and skills are successfully developed. We want children to be autonomous, independent users of computing technologies, gaining confidence and enjoyment from their activities. We recognise that technology can allow pupils to share their learning in creative ways and we want the use of technology to support learning across the curriculum, as well as ensuring it is accessible to all. Our curriculum provides opportunities for children to develop creativity, resilience, problem solving and critical thinking skills and it is our intention that computing engages and enriches children’s experiences in school.

At Forest Primary School we believe that Design and Technology (D&T) should provide children with real-life contexts for learning. Children should be inspired by engineers, designers, chefs, architects, and others to enable them to create a range of structures, mechanisms, textiles, electrical systems, and food products with a real-life purpose. D&T should be an inspiring, rigorous, practical subject that encourages children to think, to innovate, to take risks, and to creatively solve problems.

In D&T we encourage children to use their creativity and imagination, while drawing on prior knowledge and understanding, to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems within a variety of contexts, considering their own and others’ needs, wants and values. We aim, wherever possible, to create meaningful links to other subject areas such as Mathematics, Science, Computing and Art. A key element of this subject is the reflection and evaluation of past and present design technology, its uses, and its effectiveness.