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Science at YWJS

Science Statement of Intent

Resilient Respectful Inspired Curious

Scientists at Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Science is a systematic investigation of the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the world which relies on first hand experiences and other sources of information. At Yeadon Westfield Junior School, we are passionate about believing that science is important in every aspect of daily life and we want the children to be naturally curious, explain concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and deepen respect, care and appreciation for the living and non-living world around them. We build on science capital by fostering the acquisition of knowledge, skills, positive attitudes through experiences and resources in order to inspire them to be excited and enthusiastic about learning future science.

At Y.W.J.S, teachers will create a positive attitude to science by using a whole school progressive topic-based approach, reinforcing an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards. Working scientifically, skills are embedded into lessons and the children are challenged. As they become more proficient at working scientifically, and their knowledge and understanding increases, they are encouraged to be resilient, ask their own questions, choose scientific equipment, collate and interpret results and make conclusions on real evidence using correct scientific language and vocabulary. Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning and workshops with experts.

Our scientists have rich vocabulary, articulate their ideas clearly and will have high aspirations which will move them forward to further study, careers and take these skills into adult life. They are exposed to a range of different scientists from a range of different backgrounds, understand how science has changed our lives and is vital to the worlds’ future prosperity. Children at Y.W.J.S feel they are scientists, and this results in motivated learners with good scientific understanding.

YWJS Science Long Term plan

Spring Term 2024 - Year 5 - Science On Our Muddy Puddle Day

This the science part of our Muddy Puddle Day. After lunch we linked our work to British Science Week. We became engineers and learnt about pendulums by making one ourselves. We then experimented with ways to slow down its swing and even explored different types of swings.

Spring Term 2024 - Year 4 - Dinosaur Extinction

As part of the British Science week Time topic we studied dinosaur extinction. We then presented our findings to the rest of the class. This a SHORTER version with only a few presentations. All the presentations can be seen in the LONGER version on the Year 4 page.

Spring Term 2024 - Year 6 - Science - Time

8-17th March 2024 is British Science Week and the theme this year is ‘time’.
We carried out an activity linked to our Evolution and Inheritance topic. We made moths out of clay. We camouflaged our moths so they could survive in different habitats. We fluttered them about and then settled them into different habitats.The teachers became predators. They hunted for the moths and if a moth was spotted, it was ‘eaten’. Only 4 out of 55 were found and eaten!

Spring 2 Rock Detectives Year 3

Autumn Term 2023 - Year 6 - Respiration

We have been studying the respiratory system. We acted out the process to reinforce our learning.

Autumn Term 2023 - Year 5 - Building a Mars Rover

We used our Science and Design lessons to learn about electric circuits and develop our craft skills. We built a motorised chassis for a Mars Rover.

Autumn Term 2023 - Year 5 - Science - Space

Exploring Earth and Space. We started off by recapping the Earth’s movement and how the Earth’s rotation over 24 hours causes day and night. Using this knowledge, we completed an orienteering course in small groups, answering questions about day and night. Next, we looked at our solar system and the planets in it. Using fruit to represent the different planets, we ordered them and created a fact file. We discussed how the planets move and orbit the sun. The children identified that Mercury takes the least amount of time to orbit the sun as it is closest to it, and Neptune the most as it is furthest away. We finished the morning off by creating some beautiful planet artwork using the planet facts to help our designs.
In the afternoon, we completed some astronaut training before beginning our journey into space. We role played blasting off in a rocket, landing on the moon and exploring space. We finished off by listening to the poem ‘The Universe’ by Warren Mbaht and considering what we could see through the window of our rocket.

Autumn - Year 5 - Forces - Investigating levers, pulleys and gears

Autumn - Year 5 - Forces - Investigating water resistance

Autumn Year 3 - Forces - Investigation: Are big magnets more powerful than small magnets?

Autumn Term 2023 - Year 3 - Forces - Investigating the pull force needed to move a pyramid stone across different surfaces

Autumn term 2023- Year 5 - Forces - Investigating air-resistance with parachutes

Summer Term 2023 - Year 4 Science - Electricity - Making Simple Circuits

Summer Term 2023 - Year 5 - Muddy Puddle Day

As part of our science studies we searched the grounds for wild life. Then we made visual life cycle models. Later on we planted plants and bulbs in the beds and in found objects. In the afternoon we watched a David Attenborough wild life film and then we made and edited our own nature videos. These videos are on the Video Resource Centre on the Children page.

Summer Term 2023 - Year 4 - Visit To Nell Bank

We spent a day at Nell Bank, near Ilkley. We were studying nature in the woods, by the river and in the ponds. It was a grand day out!

Spring Term 2023 - Year 5 - Science and Muddy Puddles

The coldest Muddy Puddle Day yet for Year 5.
Maths: The children learned about 2 dimensional polygons (ask one of the children to explain). They made regular and irregular shapes from found materials.
Art: Inspired by Kandinsky they turned their maths into art.
History: To warm up they re-enacted the Battle of Hastings.
Science: they devised ways of separating a mixture of materials.

Autumn Term 2022 - Year 6 - Science - Lung Capacity

We were set the question: Do people who exercise have a bigger lung capacity than those who don't?
We divised our own experiments to help answer the question.

Autumn Term 2022 - Year 5 - Sun, Moon And Earth

We have been learning how the Sun, Moon and Earth move relative to each other. We then presented our findings to the rest of the class.

Autumn Term 2022 - Year 5 - Air Resistance

This week we have been testing the effects of air resistance on parachutes. Our investigation question was 'Which parachute would you choose to launch your favourite teddy bear out of a plane in?'

To answer this question we kept all variables constant except for the size of the parachute. We found that the larger the surface area of the parachute the longer the parachute took to hit the ground and the safer the flight for our Teddy Bear. We saw how air resistance slows down the descent of the teddy bear.

Gravity pulls the parachute down and air resistance is the force working in the opposing direction. It slows down the descent of the parachute making a safer landing possible.

We all chose the biggest parachute with the largest surface area for our teddies!

Summer Term 2022 - Year 4 - Making Electric Lamps

A triple whammy here! 4I have been making a simple circuit for a lamp. The lamp was designed and built in their DT lessons (topic Electricity) out of recycled materials which links with their Eco Schools topic of waste. Their science topic is also electricity and their electricity objective was to make a simple circuit, a circuit with a brighter bulb and a circuit with more than one bulb.

Science has been taught in a variety of ways this year. From exciting investigations, school trips, research, both inside the classroom and out and open ended questions. Children have become able to collate, sort, understand and explain their results, producing fantastic conclusions, tables venn diagrams and line graphs.

Year 4 and 5 telling us a bit about what they have learnt this year.

States of Matter is taught in year 4, progressing to Properties of Materials in Year 5.

Light is taught both in year 3 and 6. Elizabeth in year 6 said 'investigating refraction with four mirrors and a torch, was the best moment I had in science all year!'

Fantastic progression of work in the books from year 4 to year 5, learning about living things and their habitats.

The classrooms have had a wide range of fantastic displays throughout the year, which often are interactive and evolve throughout the half term.

Summer Term 2022 - Year 6 - What Is Science?

To help answer the question: "What Is Science?" we have been learning the skills that scientists use. In this video we have been learning about classification.

Summer Term 2022 - Year 4 - Science At Nell Bank

Year 4 had a fabulous day at Nell Bank. They walked through The Bluebell Woods down to the river looking at geographical features, including tributaries and ground water. Once at the river played a game of Pooh Sticks, which showed the river speed around the meander. They then looked at the physical features of rocks and stones on the beach.
The afternoon was filled with science activities including a habitat hunt and pond dipping, finally finished with a play on the wooden playground. The sun shone and it was a brilliant day!

Summer Term 2022 - Class 5A - Investigating solubility

We mixed different substances with liquids to see if they dissolved (soluble) or not (insoluble).

Spring Term 2022 - Class 6G - Science Day

6G celebrated Science Day and International Women's Day by dressing as scientists and focussing on the work of women scientists.

Spring Term 2022 - Class 4I - Science Day

The children came dressed as scientists.

Spring Term 2022 - Class 3L - Science Day

We came to school dressed as scientists - see our pictures. We also went outside and built Gentoo penguin nests from found materials. We tested them for resistance to wind and water.

Spring Term 2022 - Year 4 - Three Experiments

In our science lessons we have been looking at 'Solids And Liquids', 'Soundproofing' and ' Sugar And Our Teeth'.

Autumn Term 2021 - Year 5 Science - The Solar System

We considered the movement of the Earth and the Moon in relation to the Sun in our heliocentric (Sun at the centre) Solar System. We found out that the Earth spins or rotates on its own axis once every 24 hours. It also orbits (goes round) the Sun once a year (365 1⁄4 days). Whilst we orbit the Sun, the Moon orbits the Earth. It takes roughly 28 days for the Moon to orbit the Earth and this is known as a lunar month. This videos shows our understanding.

Autumn Term 2021 Year 3 Forces

How many Newtons of force does it take to pull an object across different surfaces?

We investigated the force needed to pull a tray over different surfaces around school, we kept the test fair by using the same object and pulling in the same way, these were the controlled variables, we measured the force needed on different surfaces using Newton meters.

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Year 3 have been investigating forces. We began be looking at push and pull forces, investigating the pull force needed to move a tray on different surfaces. We then learned about magnets, testing things which were attracted to a magnet and the strength of different magnets.

Autumn Term 2021 - Year 4 Science - The Digestive System

We learned about the digestive system using instructions from a BBC Bitesize project. The playground was the ideal place for this experiment!

Autumn Term 2021 - Year 5 - Forces

During our Year 5 science topic of forces we did lots of practical investigations to understand the forces acting around us better. Whilst we can't see the forces we are exploring, we use them constantly to make our lives easier!

We used Newton meters to understand the relationship between force and mass to understand the effect of gravity on an object.

We explored air resistance by making and testing parachutes of different sizes. We considered air resistance acting upon various objects.

We investigated how boat shape can change the effect of water resistance on it moving through water.

We investigated simple mechanisms such as levers, pulleys and gears. We looked at gears and how they move against each other. We investigated levers by doing simple observation of a basic lever (our rulers on our glue sticks) and how moving the fulcrum affected the mass being lifted. We also made our own catapults to investigate how a smaller force can have a greater effect. We used pulley wheels to explore how mass can be lifted using ropes around wheels not joined together.

Autumn Term 2021 - Year 6 - Periscopes

Continuing our study of light we used the darkened school hall to investigate reflection. Then we made, and experimented with, our own periscopes.

Autumn Term 2021 - Year 6 - How we see objects

We have been looking at how light travels to our eyes so we can see things. We made our own videos and here they are. (Sorry about the wind noise - hope you can still hear what we are saying.)

Summer Term 2021 - Year 4 Eco-Schools Energy Topic

We researched the ideas behind reusing materials. We learned about electric circuits.Then we designed and made our own electric table lamps using recycled materials.

Summer Term 2021 - Year 6 - Pond Dipping

We have revisited our pond to see what changes there have been since earlier this year.

Year 4 making human electrical circuits.

Spring Term 2021 - Year 6 Science - Micro-organisms

Year 6 have been studying micro-organisms. They have made some models of these micro-organisms using plasticene. They are very artistic.

Summer Term 2021 - Year 5 Science - Plant Structure

We went outside to examine the daffodils and identify the different parts. Back inside we cut up fruit and vegetables We counted the seeds and also found out where they were inside the plant.

Summer Term 2021 - Class 4I - Hunting For Minibeasts

Our project is "Living Things And Their Habitats". We hunted for minibeasts in the nature garden. We drew them and noted where they were living.

Summer Term 2021 - Year 3 - Planting Sunflower Seeds

We spent some time outside planting sunflowers to use in experiments later on this term.

Summer Term 2021 - Class 6G - Classification Of Living Things

Using the School Pond and School Grounds as a resource we collected a variety of living things and began to classify them.

Spring Term 2021 - 6G - Jenga and Robo-bugs

As part of British Science Week 6G have been studying herd immunity by playing Jenga, and designing their own insects with special powers.

Spring Term 2021 - 5A - Studying Plastics

As part of British Science Week the pupils have been looking at plastics - what they are, where they come from, and the issues of waste.

Spring 2021 - Year 6 - Evolution, Inheritance and Adaptation

This video contains end-of-topic summary sheets by a number of pupils.

Spring 2021 - Year 3 Science - Rocks

We have explored the different kinds of rock and their features. We have become Petrologists by creating observational drawings of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. We have conducted a fair test investigation to discover rocks permeability, acidity and durability. We have then discussed the fossilisation process and had a go at making our own fossils!

Autumn 2020

Autumn 2020 - Class 3B - Magnetism

The children explored push and pull forces and applied this knowledge to magnets. They explored the classroom to discover what items were or weren’t magnetic. Following on the children then conducted their own fair test investigation into magnets. Using a variety of different magnets to answer their question of ‘are magnets affected by water?’ They wanted to find out if the size of the magnet made any difference to the attraction from lifting paper clips in water.

Autumn 2020 Year 5 Earth and Space

Class 6G - Circulation of the Blood

Investigating the strength of magnets and materials that were magnetic in Year 3

Year 3 investigated the force needed to pull a an object on different surfaces.

Fantastic messy digestion work in year 4K

Class 4I Digestion

Classroom Displays

Below are pictures of the Science displays which are on classroom walls during the Autumn term.

Year 3

Year 5

Year 6

Year 6 - Light and Reflection

Water resistance

Year 5 have been learning about water resistance. We wanted to investigate which shapes are the least water resistant and, therefore, move through water most quickly. We used plasticine to experiment with a variety of shapes. We discovered that a pointy, thin shape was most streamlined and cut through the water most effectively. We talked about why the nose of a plane and the nose of a shark are the best shapes for flying and swimming.

Fabulous Forces September 2020 - Year 5

As part of our fabulous forces topic in science we have been using Newton meters to measure force. In this experiment we are measuring the force required to move a weighted shoe over different surfaces. Our conclusions showed us that to move a weighted shoe across a surface; smoother, slippery surfaces required less force whereas, rougher surfaces required greater force to move the shoe. The shoe generated greater friction (a force moving in the opposite direction to the movement of the shoe) the rougher the surface. This is why anti-slip surfaces are often rougher or more textured to generate higher friction and prevent slipping.