How do we ensure all children can access science lessons?

Our curriculum is designed to ensure that all children can access their learning and are enthusiastic to do so. We focus on a range of topics including plants, animals, materials, light, electricity and forces. Our lessons are differentiated so that all children have similar experiences but are tailored to their individual needs.  We try to focus on what children can do and can achieve in lessons to build up confidence and a love of learning, whilst gaining an understanding of where they need to develop and improve and address these needs regularly through lessons. For some children with complex additional needs, a highly differentiated plan is developed with support of external agencies where necessary to make sure that we are giving them the best opportunities to develop their skills. All children are given the opportunity to partake in experiments and learning experiences to enhance their learning. Throughout school we adapt our environment to suit the needs of our children with resources such as coloured writing books, adapted pens and pencils, now and next boards, magnifying glasses and sound buttons. We continue to develop our school and our teaching to support the ever changing needs of our children and strive to do our very best for every individual.

How does science at Barcroft prepare children with Special Educational Needs for the future?

When children with special educational needs are taught Science they are learning vital important life skills that they will be able to transcend into adulthood. Science encourages curiosity – children instinctively want to learn. They learn by doing and asking questions, experiments permit a variation of “right” answers to a question. A child who stays intellectually curious will grow into an interesting and resourceful adult. Science also promotes confidence, children with special educational needs trust more in their talent and abilities to solve a problem when they can “see” it. Science allows for this hands-on learning. A child with appropriate self-confidence will see life’s challenges as opportunities to succeed. Creativity is another area that is learnt through Science, children naturally work outside of traditional rules, patterns, and mathematical relationships. This is good under the right circumstances. Science experiments can merge both new and old ways of doing things, to “think differently.” Another key aspect is communication, children are typically honest when they speak. Science experiments encourage honesty in the reporting of results in a scientific write- up.  A child who learns to communicate results with precision and clarity will face fewer misunderstandings in later life. Decision making is an important life skill, children are notorious for making impulse decisions. This can be tempered with age, maturity and within learning science and that’s because science is concerned with finding solutions to problems. Usually, there’s more than one solution to a problem. Science teaches children to compare and then make the best decision. A child who can rationally make decisions through comparisons will make the correct decision for them in a given circumstance.