During our LPS Review Week activities this year, the AoLE leader and iTeam Pupil Voice Group undertook 'workbook looks' and spoke with learners from each year group about Science & Technology throughout the school feeding their findings back to our allocated school governor regarding the progress made against the Science & Technology Action Plan.   

We identified the following strengths related to our Action Plan: 

All classes have produced LPS Curriculum Projects with a variety of Science and Technology experiences, which enables pupils to demonstrate high standards of work within the science and technology area of learning. This has been recognised during our Summer Term Estyn Inspection, where inspectors stated, ‘Throughout the school, pupils make effective progress in developing and using their digital skills. Pupils of all ages use a wide range of technology to advance their learning across the curriculum. They apply their digital skills at a level appropriate to their age and stage of development.’ 

Through workbook looks, as well as listening to learners from each of the classes, the AoLE leader found that pupils across LPS experiences a rich variety of activities across the science and technology area of learning, allowing learners to improve their understanding of the wide spectrum of concepts within science and technology, enabling Estyn to recognise ‘… pupils in Year 2 carry out independent research effectively on their class topic and older pupils code an algorithm to make a toy model move.’ 

Examples of various activities undertaken across the academic year: 

KS2 

Create presentations, iMovies and produce artwork using various platforms. 

Planned and produced animations based on 'Landing on Mars' and researched Moon Phases. 

Create databases on Aztec Gods. 

Planned, developed and reflected on a digestive system enquiry. 

Use Adobe Creative Cloud platform to make digital menus.  

Enquired about how our pulse rate if impacted by exercise. 

Foundation Phase 

Created graphs using JiT5. 

Used ICT to research topic areas. 

Investigated how our senses work and help us.  

Planned, developed and reflected on a melting enquiry.  

Through conversations with learners, we found that many classes have had opportunities for virtual reality (VR) experiences within class sessions. These rich virtual experiences are designed to engage the pupils fully into an area of learning, as well as immerse the learners into experiences which will help improve understanding in a more practical scenario. Nearly all learners who have had experiences of VR within class sessions enjoyed the experiences and said that it 'helped' them with their learning and that they were 'excited to use the headsets'.  

Other areas of strength: 

Estyn recognised the effective teaching of areas within Science & Technology learning area, commenting that the teachers ‘… set questions that require pupils to extend their responses in science’. This demonstrates the effective use of the Science and Technology Scheme by the teachers, enabling pupils across the school to make good progress in this area.  

Additionally, Estyn commented on ‘…an effective culture of safety and well-being within the school community and online.’ Stating further that ‘ … Staff, pupils, and governors promote this culture well, including the provision for ensuring pupils' on-line safety, which is very effective and has been recognised by the achievement of a national award’. This recognition from Estyn highlights the excellent practice displayed by the school staff and community, enabling children to be safe and free to be global, independent and lifelong learners, accessing learning from a rich variety of sources.  

Next Steps: 

Our next steps will be finalised in September, when we will create our Action Plan in line with the recommendations from our Estyn Inspection Report.