Science
Welcome to St Mary’s Science Department!
For every pupil at St Mary’s, the teaching of science and its curriculum aims to:
- Stimulate a curiosity, interest and enjoyment of science
- Develop skills that enable pupils to investigate and experiment safely and to effectively communicate their findings
- Equip pupils with a systematic scientific knowledge and understanding that allows them to describe different phenomena and events in the world around them in scientific terms
- Enable pupils to identify links and connections between different scientific concepts and more widely with their learning across all subjects
- Promote an awareness of the history, development and uses of science in society and how it continues to shapes our lives
Science is taught:
- Right from kindergarten, as part of a broad, carefully planned curriculum based on the Curriculum for Excellence. A whole school progression framework is in place that follows the ISEB 11+ and 13+ curriculum, with the English National Curriculum at key stages 1and 2 supporting planning in pre-prep
- By class teachers in kindergarten, pre prep and the middle school, then by a science specialist in a fully equipped laboratory in the upper school
- Using a wide variety of resources and teaching techniques to ensure that all pupils have access to a robust and engaging curriculum that meets our aims and ensures that each child achieves their full potential
- Engaging with the wider world by inviting visitors into class and to the school as part of our annual Bang Goes the Borders science festival
- Making use of the beautiful landscape around Melrose to support children’s learning through fieldwork – visiting local farms, the River Tweed, the Eildon Hills
- By providing a safe, secure learning environment where children are encouraged to ask questions, make mistakes and develop their thinking through structured, challenging reflection
Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think
A. Einstein