Teaching and learning in science make a significant contribution to our curriculum vision for Stretton. The skills and habits of scientists are founded on observation, critical thinking, and evaluation. Scientists notice, reflect and revisit; they show perseverance in their pursuit of accuracy, and they apply their knowledge precisely and with care. They show imagination in going beyond what is currently known and understood to broaden human appreciation of the world, opening up opportunities in theoretical science as well as applied fields such as medicine, engineering, and technology that enable us to tackle and resolve the challenges of the modern world. Science offers an exciting field in which children can broaden their horizons and explore new ideas. It is also a field where future boundaries are unknown, so that children have the opportunity to contribute in the future in a way that may not yet be understood.

Our vision is that all children will develop:

• the skills of scientific enquiry (what it means to be ‘a scientist’): enquiring, exploring, predicting, observing precisely, measuring, and evaluating to be able to ask and respond confidently to questions about the natural and physical world;
• a secure understanding of foundational concepts and knowledge in Science, recognising the significance of rational explanation, evidence and causation in understanding the world and the challenges we face (and developing a justified capacity for identifying and rejecting ‘fake news’ relating to Science);
• a lively sense of curiosity, enabling them to appreciate and understand how scientists have changed our understanding of the world through the developing disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and to begin to consider where Scientific enquiry and its application might develop in the future.

Science (and STEM more generally) plays a critical role in many spheres of human enquiry and employment. Effective teaching of science provides children with:

• opportunities to access the skills of scientific enquiry and to develop and practise these;
• time and appropriate stimuli to develop their scientific imagination by investigating and exploring their own questions and ideas;
• access to intellectually stimulating and engaging models from scientific research and its application in the ‘real’ world to inspire children and to support them to understand how Science can contribute to addressing the challenges the world faces (e.g. in relation to energy, food scarcity, medicine, natural resources, and technology).
• a forum in which to debate, openly and in an informed way, scientific questions and discoveries, and consider their implications and significance;
• a wide range of opportunities to appreciate the exciting, dynamic and varied careers available to them if they choose to continue with science beyond secondary school. We seek to engage with local Scientific communities to support this engagement (e.g. via the Coventry Museums Service and via local universities (Warwick and Coventry), as well as through our membership of the local Ogden Trust partnership).