Science
We know that all children have a natural curiosity about the world around them and that science is a fundamental part of this.
At St James Hatcham, we aim to create children who question why and how things work. We strive to nurture this interest through high-quality teaching, practical investigations and embedding scientific skills. Therefore, allowing children to ask questions and develop the skills required to come up with the answers.
At St James Hatcham we aim to:
- Meet the needs of all of our children by giving them opportunities to enhance their skills by working scientifically, and then apply this knowledge to make connections within the wider world. We achieve this by providing opportunities to recognise and articulate which scientific skill they will use. This allows the children time to reflect on what they have achieved.
- Develop oracy skills by teaching scientific language in a multitude of creative ways, such as: explicitly teaching new vocabulary, presenting their findings and asking questions linked to scientific enquiry. The impact of this will allow the children to make informed oral and written responses, as well as the ability to challenge misconceptions through the understanding of language.
- Embed cross-curricular links between Science and Maths in a meaningful way. Science inspires and stimulates mathematics. Within any science investigation, children must have the skills to problem solve, explain their reasoning and communicate their answers. At St James Hatcham, we are proactive in making these connections through real life scenarios. Allowing the children to go outside opens up a whole new world of questions. Are we able to estimate the amount of vegetables we can grow in our edible playground, or the height of the trees outside? This way of learning motivates the children and brings the subjects to life.
Eco-Schools
We are currently aiming for our Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation, which recognises, rewards and celebrates the environmental achievements of young people. A selection of our greatest Eco Warriors have been made from each year group to help ensure we meet the tight targets for the award. Keep your eyes on the news space for updates.
Edible Playground
The Edible Playground at St James provides opportunities for children to grow, nurture and take care of plants and vegetables sustainably. This space provides great opportunities for our children who are living in an inner-city environment to develop a clear understanding of where their food comes from. As a school, we collectively look after this area to inspire the school community to become more involved in growing a more environmentally sustainable future. Children are taught using cross-curricular links that will promote their love of looking after the planet and making healthy food options to live happy and healthy lifestyles. Each year group has a vegetable focus which throughout the year will be grown and used as produce in our school canteen.
The Edible Playground club is an extra-curricular activity where children take part in further learning and activities to look after and care for this space. So far this year, pupils in this club have:
- Sowed and planted rhubarb
- Created a vegetable crop planner
- Created bird cakes
Further plans for the club this year includes creating a bug hotel, learning about the lifecycle of a plant, and reviewing plant growth for our planted vegetables. Watch this space!
