The Thompson Primary School trialled TAPS Focused Assessment plans and developed new TAPS-NI activities like cupcake parachutes and ice escape.  The plans made science skills more explicit in the lessons and the focus on one skill per lesson made teaching more manageable. They linked the practical tasks to their World Around Us planner and buddied up with a colleague in a different year group to support ongoing development and progression of science skills. A science skills butterfly (updated to the NI flower – link below) was displayed in each classroom to show coverage of skills across the topic.

The World Around Us coordinator found that staff were now ‘not afraid of science’ and that the ‘teachers are keen to try out practical scientific tasks’. In turn, the teachers found that planning for more explicit discussion and the focus on one skill led to more motivated pupils had a clearer understanding of expectations, were more independent in investigations and were using more scientific vocabulary.

The Thompson Primary School, Co. Antrim

Further details about the TAPS-NI project can be found under guidance on the main TAPS page of the PSTT website.