STEAM Education at Taylor Road Primary School

INTENT

At Taylor Road Primary School it is our intention that every pupil, irrelevant of needs, develops such a passion for STEAM that they harness their natural excitement and curiosity and in turn this inspires them to pursue enquiry. We wish that every child is excited by STEAM ideas and wants to learn to explain and analyse phenomena, make predictions and solve problems. We encourage children to be inquisitive throughout their time at the school and beyond. We believe STEAM encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes. Throughout their time at Taylor Road, the children will acquire and develop the key knowledge that has been identified within each unit and across each year group, as well as the application of scientific skills. We ensure that the skills are built-on and developed throughout children’s time at the school so that they can apply their knowledge of STEAM when using equipment, conducting experiments, solving problems, building arguments and explaining concepts confidently and continue to ask questions and be curious about their surroundings and how they can be impactful on them.

As STEAM is not a curriculum subject, there is no national curriculum support except that available in the Science, DT, Art and Maths curriculum:

• Develop knowledge and conceptual understanding through the subjects of Science, Design Technology, Maths whilst incorporating Art as well

• Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of the STEAM approach through different types of enquiries that help them to answer questions about the world around them

• Be equipped with the knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of the STEAM approach, today and for the future.

Our approach to STEAM is well structured and sequenced to enable knowledge and skills to be revisited throughout the school. Prior learning, future learning and key vocabulary are clearly identified within the Progression of Skills within the discrete subjects. Where possible links are made to our themed explorations e.g. ‘Bridging the gap’ topic in year 5 strongly links with ‘Tower of Strength’ in year 4. In order to raise curiosity we encourage lessons to be driven through the ideas of exploration, trial and evaluate.  

We aim to provide all children with a practically led curriculum, driven through the essential practical skills to deepen their knowledge. Our main emphasis is to develop children’s ability to think about solutions to problems. By the end of Key Stage 2 we aim that children will be able to:

• Identify problems in real life situations as a way to see what they can change for the better

• take measurements, using a range of scientific and technological equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate 

• evaluate results to see what was successful and what can be improved

• report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and a degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations

• identify why their actions and decisions have made a difference

We aim to address all needs and we deliver the curriculum to all pupils including SEND and EAL through a broad and balanced approach. Where possible, children will be supported with word banks and additional writing frames to support their learning. We encourage a range of ways for children to record their verbal responses (diagrams, talking tins, photographic etc).

As STEAM is not a curriculum subject, timetabled lessons are not scheduled on a weekly basis. However, STEAM can be delivered through the other distinct subjects included in curriculum maestro and access to the STEAM room is available for all.

We ensure that all children, especially those disadvantaged, have engaging opportunities utilising STEAM, to enable them to achieve their full potential. Examples of enrichment activities have included: Lego League, Road to the Royal International Air Tattoo and visits from local universities.  

We endeavour to ensure that the STEAM approach we provide will give children the confidence and motivation to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and life experiences.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our skills-based progression allows for teachers to be clear of end goals, build on what has been taught previously and ensure a variety of opportunities. Knowledge and understanding is taught explicitly in a designated STEAM week in the summer term across the whole school.  Working scientifically is integrally taught within all lessons. Where possible links are made within the discrete subjects to enrich learning. There are opportunities each term for children to develop their investigative skills focusing on different aspects of enquiry through science, mathematics and Design Technology. Lessons are to be practically led as much as possible.

Teachers use TAs to help support children when needed.

Children are provided with a range of engaging resources to enable the children to carry out fun and exciting projects to deepen their learning and develop their understanding of the concept that is being taught. We ensure that there are opportunities for paired, group and class discussion/debate to consolidate learning which is linked to our oracy priority.

In the STEAM week differentiated engineering lessons which build on areas previously taught in other year groups that show progression. Pupils will be engaged through the use of engaging resources and use of media to carry out practical sessions. Teachers support, encourage, foster and nurture a love of STEAM.

Children are supported through a range of ways: Extra time may be given for learning vocabulary for EAL and SEN pupils in order for them to join in with discussion. Work may be differentiated so that all children can meet the Learning Objectives. Experiment resources will be checked to ensure they are safe and can be used with the children.

Children are challenged in a variety of ways: Work may be differentiated to give certain children a further challenge. Questions can be asked to children to further their individual knowledge and work on the extra information they may know. Children to be given leading roles during team activities and experiments.

We ensure that all children can access the curriculum through: Providing children who have SEN or EAL needs with access to vocabulary word banks prior to an activity. Seating children alongside good role models to support one another. Providing visual/practical prompts. Teaching lessons using a range of different techniques to appeal to different learning styles e.g. videos, drama, artefacts, texts etc.

IMPACT

 We measure impact through:

• Pupil interviews conducted to gauge the impact of STEAM activities and activities conducted through the use of the STEAM room.  

• Monitoring of the use of room 19 through photographic evidence and the completion of risk assessments.

• Work recorded in Design Technology, Sketch and Science books.

Observation of teaching and learning show:

• Teachers have a good level of subject knowledge

• Confident children developing their independence in their learning, often posing their own questions and hypothesis for investigation.

• Marking and feedback- encourages ‘deeper’ thinking for greater depth understanding

• Formative assessment through questioning during lessons and investigations

• Confident and curious children who can eagerly talk about their lessons and discoveries they have made

• Children are able to use and explain the meaning of STEAM vocabulary

• Teachers use a range of questioning to explore children’s understanding

• Children are keen to complete challenging STEAM related homework tasks

• Children’s misconceptions are addressed through oral and written feedback

• Children are prepared to take risks and know that failure is a way forward

As part of our STEAM provision for children at Taylor Road, we deliver a week of activities across the school designed to get the children thinking about engineering and problem-solving techniques.

Click below to find out about the activities each Year group will take part in.