What’s New in Science

STEM Activities

We had a visit from a STEM ambassador who worked with children all through school. 

The children learnt that STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths. They discussed what jobs might include STEM and were fascinated to find out that people they knew had STEM jobs.

The children took part in different lessons and enjoyed carrying out the exploratory challenges including building a new kennel for Rufus, creating a new place to live on Mars and what it would entail, designing and testing a boat for buoyancy and finding out which design of paper plane flies the furthest.

The children really enjoyed the challenges they were set and we are hoping to have more STEM visitors in the future. 

Science Fair

On Tuesday 14th March we held our annual science fair to coincide with British Science Week.  Children were invited to carry out scientific investigations and present their findings at the fair. We had entries from Reception all the way up to Y6 which was fantastic!

The theme of British Science Week was Connections so we had several activities linked to connections which the children enjoyed taking part in. They looked at the connections in their families by creating a family tree, they investigated the connections between magnets and magnetic materials, they created domino runs and marble runs and they made a skeleton using art straws to see the different connections in their bodies. 

Science Week

During the week of 13th-17th March we celebrated British Science Week.

The children took part in a whole school investigation using gummy bears. Gummy bears were placed into water and the children observed the changes over a few days. They were amazed to see how much water the bears absorbed and how much they grew!

We were lucky enough to take part in some live lessons by the NFU. KS1 had a lesson about how tractors are connected to space; LKS2 learnt about how pigs are connected to jumbo jets and UKS2 learnt about how sheep are connected to seaweed. The lessons were exciting and the children enjoyed learning lots of new information.

We had some very special visitors in school on Wednesday 15th March. We had a barn owl, a harris hawk, a barbary falcon and a bald eagle. Alan, who brought the birds was amazing with the birds and told the children lots of amazing facts, He even let the birds fly through the school hall!

Our School Pond

We have a new pond on the school grounds which is an exciting way for the children to explore the wildlife in their local environment. 

All classes were invited to a pond launch party where they learnt about the different plants and animals that might be spotted around the pond.

The children have spent time with our school gardener who told them all about the different plants that were growing in, and around, the pond. 

Our children will have the opportunity to experience ‘real-life’ pond visitors and become familiar with different life cycles. We currently have tadpoles growing in the pond and the children have enjoyed talking about how the tadpoles have grown and changed. 

We are looking forward to observing the changes to the school pond throughout the different seasons. 

Science Home Learning Challenges!

We have launched our new Science Home Learning Challenges!

Each half term we will be providing the children with a home learning challenge which we hope they will be excited to participate in.

If the children wish to take part in the challenge they will be provided with the necessary resources and instructions about how to carry out the experiment. 

All children who participate in the challenge will receive a special science certificate and they will also be entered into a prize draw at the end of the half term.

We will have home learning challenges such as; make a balloon rocket, make your own invisible ink, Leeds bug hunt and investigate pollination.

We really enjoy seeing all the children participate in these challenges.

Parent’s Comments

“We found the project a lot of fun and my child really enjoyed it.”

“My child absolutely loves the experiment. I think it will keep her entertained for a while!”

“My child loved doing the science experiment.”

Science Sam

We wanted to promote science at Clapgate and encourage children to see that science is all around us wherever we are. We asked all the children across school to design a science mascot for use with all our science activities. There were some amazing entries. The final decision was made and the winner of the competition was a child in Year 3. 

Science Sam was introduced to Clapgate. He is used in our science lessons as a visual aid so that children know they are participating in a science lesson. Children who demonstrate super science skills earn themselves a Super Scientist sticker.

Science Sam is also used on our home learning challenge instructions and certificates. 

Primary Science Quality Mark

We are thrilled to announce that Clapgate has been successful in achieving the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM).

Science has been completely reformed at Clapgate. It is now planned, taught, assessed and evidenced rigorously to enable pupils every chance to succeed in their science learning. Where children may struggle in other core subjects, every effort is made to support them to access science with no glass ceiling in place. Children evidence their science learning through their scrapbooks, which give them the freedom to choose how to present their knowledge and findings in lessons. 

Our children are now getting the science education they deserve. They are engaged in lessons and have expressed how much they look forward to science every week. At the end of PSQM, some pupils shared that they wished they could have science lessons every afternoon! Progress towards curriculum objectives is now made within and across lessons and pupils are able to explain what they have learnt. During each content area being taught, children are keen to discuss their latest learning and explain investigations that they have taken part in. Resilience has improved as pupils recognise that their predictions will not always be proven by their experiments and they are able to reflect on their findings. Children love learning outdoors, working in groups with opportunities to discuss science and use a range of equipment. Science capital has developed across school as pupils now understand the role it plays in the world and universe around them. As one pupil said, “Science is everything.”

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