West Town Primary Academy

PSQM Submission

Changing hearts and minds!

At school, at home and in our community

PRINCIPLES

Staff and students at

West Town call our

Science Principles our

‘Science Charter’

Above and below –

The principles were devised by the

whole staff and the children of

West Town Primary Academy.

During Staff CPD all Teachers

agreed to display and refer to the

charter or principles in their lessons

Our Science Charter is a

brilliant way to help me keep

my lessons focused. I have

the Charter in my classroom

and the children refer to it all

the time. It’s in my planning

folder too so that when I

plan, I always make sure I

focus the learning.

Year 6 Teacher

I love our Science

Charter…my teacher

uses it at the end of the

lesson when she asks us

to decide if we have had

a successful lesson. Most

of the time we do have a

successful lesson – even

when the investigation

doesn’t work!

Year 4 child

IGNITING AND MAINTAINING INTEREST CAREFULLY SELECTED PROBLEMS TO INVESTIGATE AND ROYAL INSTITUTION OUTREACH SUPPORT FOR STAFF,

CHILDREN AND THE COMMUNITY

Year 1 children making windmills to

test wind speed

Below in Year 2 ‘Horrid Henry needs something to stick the

pages of Mood Margret’s book together…but he doesn’t

have any glue. What else could he use and how can you

prove it is the best?’

Left-

The Royal

Institution

creating an

explosion of

interest

Right, Year 2

sharing their

findings from

their sunflower

growing

investigation.

Right, Year 5 children sharing their findings from their sunflower

investigation and in the back ground, the year 6 PowerPoint

which answers the question ‘Why are different types of sunflower

grown and what are they used for?

COMMITMENT AND DEDICATIONSTAFF SUPPORT DURING SCHOOL HOLIDAYS TO BUILD AND PREPARE A NATURE CORNER ON THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND. DONATIONS OF SEEDS, SEEDLINGS, PLANTS, COMPOST AND RAISED BEDS WERE GIVEN BY STAFF

Below, planting

seedlings with the

children during a

lunch break.

Below and left -

Just some of the

produce grown

this year on the

school site

Left and below– A team of teachers and other school staff coming in

during the Easter Holiday to dig and build raised beds ready for planting

when the children come back to school.

Our very first naturally

occurring West Town

caterpillars!

CHILDREN’S ATTITUDES TO SCIENCE LESSONS

Miss Hosty has been teaching

science to my class, for the

last couple of Fridays and the

children are very engaged

and excited by the scheme

so if they want some excited

children send them my way!

Clare MacFie Year 4 teacher

Left and below, the science

display in Year 3 classroom showing the use of science activities introduced to staff

in previous staff meeting and the impact this had on the children’s enjoyment of

science lessons

Below - children returning to school

with their parents, relatives and

neighbours for and evening

community science show

I love that we get to

actually do things in

science lessons and

work with each other to

solve problems and

answer questions.

Above, Year 4 children after having planted their sunflower seeds ‘It was fun to plant our own seeds and then watch and

measure to see how well they grew.

Above, children in

Early years

investigating spiders

using magnifying

glasses and also

watering their own

seeds

Science lessons are such fun

– we learn so much! Every

week I look forward to

Wednesday afternoon,

because I know it’s science

afternoon.

I like science, because

we find things out by

ourselves. Sometimes

my teacher doesn’t

know the answer so we

find it out together!

SCIENCE OUTSIDE OF SCIENCE

LESSON TIME

Left and below -Year 5 comparing the

food preferences of our school guinea

pigs and a teacher’s pet guinea pig from

home

Left and

above-

Year 6

beginning

their

sunflower

investigations

Above - everyone got involved in ‘Dress as a Scientist Day!’ Teachers, TAs, Office Staff and

Children.

Above - Year 1s planting their

sunflowers for the whole school

sunflower investigation!

Above –

Year 5

taking part

in a skipping

activity

investigating

exercise and

heart rate.

Left- a

lesson plan

for the

activity.

SCIENCE AROUND SCHOOLSCIENCE IS EMBEDDED WITHIN LEARNING AT WEST TOWN. JUST A FEW

EXAMPLES FROM AROUND THE SCHOOL.

Above, the Key Stage 1 corridor – changing with the seasons. Top shows Winter.

Above - Year 4 electricity display and right – Year 4 solids, liquids

and gasses display.

I work across the school

and although I don’t

teach science or support

in the lessons, I can see

that there is so much

science happening in and

around the school

Chris Burrell TA

Above - KS1 Art lessons planned

and delivered by art specialist

using the KS1 weather topic as

inspiration

Spiders drawn spontaneously

by EYFS children after their

spider investigations

Above –KS2 children buying their first items from the school’s brand new Healthy Tuck Shop.

Left – carrying out the

weekly health checks for our school guinea pigs.

Checking that Fluffy and Coco’s hips move freely

and they are moving normally.

SCIENCE AT HOMEEXAMPLES OF HOMEWORK

Above – Year 4 inventing

a new home for a hamster

Above - Year 1 – to build a

weather station!

Above-Year 5 homework to investigate your favourite

scientist and come to school dressed as that scientist for the day. Scientist researched was

Marie Curie

Above – Year 3 teacher

enjoying the Year 3

homework...making ice cream!

Left and Right -

examples of Year

5 science weekly

homework to

embed and

consolidate

classroom

learning

Labelling the parts of a flower

Observations of germinating sunflower seed

SCIENCE ACROSS THE

CURRICULUM

Left - Key Stage 1 Spring

Topic –Weather

Above and right –Year 4 Spring topic –

inventors and inventions explored through literacy and

art.

Above – science data used in maths to explore and analyse bar charts in

Year 2

Below - Early Years role play area and challenges.

Making boats for the Ginger bread man; observations and investigations

through Understanding the world using chocolate; Also vets role play

area.

Right – Inventors

and inventions

classroom display

to support the

Year 4 topic

Above – EYFS art inspired by science week and writing as a result of research

and investigation

ENHANCING SCIENCE

LEARNING

Year 3 and 4 children visiting local businesses – Anglian Water

Can we confirm 10:00am on the 23rd June?

You can take photos on the Morcott site, but not the Wing site. You can

also use AW on your website.

Finally, although the Morcott plant is modern and new, its still an

industrial building and the children will need to exercise care when on

the plant, particularly up and down stairs. I’ll provide them with Hi-viz

vests which will make them look very snazzy. Also what we see in the

various tanks and filters on Tuesday is what we’ll all be drinking in

Peterborough the next day.

Look forward to seeing you on the 23rd.

Simon Banbury

Residential visit for Year 5s – now in place and will be an annual event.

Hi,

I’m glad all’s looking positive.

I understand that you will need to support and share information with parents

to reassure them. I hope the video on our website will help with that. You

can reassure parents that girls and boys rooms are at different ends of the

bedroom corridor, and boys do not go into the girls section. We can also

cope with offering places to pray and food can be halal and no pork.

Let me know if you have any further queries.

Best wishes,

Rosie

Rosie Edwards

Head of Cambridgeshire Environmental Education Service (CEES)

Right and below, Year 5 visiting Kew Gardens

to support their Rainforests topic

Above, AG&T take

part in a investigation

afternoon at a local

secondary school –

identifying the

criminal by testing the

urine sample found at

the scene of the

crime!

Right, a Year 6 trip to the Science Museum in London to support their Space topic of

work

Year 3 carrying out pond planting in the local area to support their

topic Rivers and Mountains

Hi,

Thank you for your reply!

As part of the Froglife’s River Nene Dragon Finder (funded by Heritage

Lottery Fund) we have done much habitat work at Boardwalks Local

nature reserve. This has included the construction of a brand new

pond which we have budget to plant with a range of native

vegetation.

What we can do is have a quick talk about our native reptiles and

amphibians and the importance of ponds/where you can find them.

This can then be followed by the practical activity of planting the

ponds with the plants. There are also opportunities to do some reptile

hunting by looking under our reptile mats around the nature reserve.

We can also show the children our toad pond that has one of the

largest toad populations in the county (and possibly some newts)!

WORKING WITH

OTHER AGENCIES

Fruit to Suit

Left, children from

across Years 3 to 6 are

working together with

the company ‘Fruit to

Suit’ to set up and run

a healthy tuck shop

themselves, as the

children's own

business.

Working with Snap Science to develop the scheme

Hi,

I hope you’re well and enjoying the spring term!

I look after the marketing for Snap Science and

I’m looking at putting together some case studies

to help promote it, and to show off how well it is

working in primary schools. When I asked Tom if he

had any suggestions of schools to contact he sent

your lovely email straight across! I would love to

organise a visit for myself and Tom, and potentially

Jane as well if she is free, to come in and see how

Snap is evolving in your school. I love the idea of

your senses garden!

All of the feedback you have sent below is so

positive to hear and it would be great if I could

speak to you a bit more in-depth about how Snap

is helping both the teachers and pupils with their

confidence, and enjoyment, in science. It would

be great if you could let me know a few potential

dates after the May half term when it would suit for

us to come in.

I look forward to hearing from you, and to coming

to visit later in the year.

Kind regards,

Jess

Jessica Short

Campaign Manager

Collins

Marks and Spencer’s

Dear all

I had a really exciting call from Queensgate's PR company who I made contact with during the Eco festival competition recently. They have asked if our school would be willing to participate in a feature (for local magazines and newspaper release) about Marks and Spencer's new line of 'non-scuff' uniform.

On Thursday afternoon, Lewis class and a few other children (I have emailed their teachers) will participate in a 'young people's test panel' where the children will try on, test out 'to the limit' their uniform to feedback to them. A rep from the PR company will come along with an M and S representative and a set of their uniforms.

Thanks, and sorry it's quite short notice, I just thought it's too good an opportunity to miss!

Kind regards, (Arts Leader)

SCIENCE CLUBPROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SCIENCE EXPLORATION WITHOUT RESTRICTION OF TOPIC AREA

Above and right –

one of the children

from science club

said ‘I saw on the

TV that a lemon

could be used to

make a light bulb

glow.’ So…we

tried it!

Due to over subscribed science club, two clubs will

continue to run next year – science club and gardening

club.

80% of science club

are girls from across

Year 2 and above.

Above and left – the

garden area growing. The

children identified the ripe

strawberries and chose to

leave them so that we

could attract wildlife to our

grounds, including birds

and mini beasts..

I love science club…I wish we could do

science club everyday!

Year 3 Child

In science club we can investigate anything we want to…if we have a

question, we get to try and find an answer to it…sometimes we do, sometimes we

don’t – but it’s fun anyway.Year 5 child

IMPACT

Below, children in Year 3 independently

asking a scientific question, testing and then

analysing their results; leaving messages for

their teacher to explain what they have

learned. The children have written… ‘ We

tested that if you put the coin on the magnet

and if you put the paper clip on the edge of

the coin is would stick but if you put the

paper clip on the front of the coin it won’t

stick.’

The queue waiting to buy our

healthy snacks from the Healthy

Tuck Shop Team ‘Tuity Fruity!’

Being asked to deliver science to a

class I wasn’t used to, I was amazed

at how enthusiastic the children were

when I told them we were learning

about science. I was impressed too

with the children’s engagement in

the lesson and their clear motivation.

Then, when I taught them again the

follow day they actually cheered

when I told them we would be doing

science again!

Marie Watts TA

Above, Early Years

spontaneously recording their

understanding about how

caterpillars become butterflies

Above, Parents and children attending a community show. A parent said ‘That was brilliant.

It’s like science used to be - hands on and practical.’ A child said ‘I love science we get to

find things out – it’s the best lesson ever and I really look forward to it every week.

Primary Science Quality Mark

Awarded

Overall comment byReviewer :

I’m not sure that my comments

really reflect what I feel about what I have

read in your submission but please let me say

‘What a journey you have had!’ Amazing

and congratulations. A very well deserved

Gold Award from PSQM. Good luck in the

future.

Tara LievesleyReviewer

This submission meetsthe criteria for PSQMGold Level.

August 2015

It gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate you on yourvery well deserved PSQM gold award. I am over the moonfor you. You have worked so hard and achieved such a lot atWest Town. See you at the award event.

Jane TurnerPSQM National Director