CASE STUDY
ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Mellor Community Primary School in Leicester is a large, vibrant, inclusive school which is proud of its close community links and extended school provision. There is a big focus on pupil voice, with lots of groups led by children, including an Eco Council, Forest School Champions, Oracy Champions, Digital Leaders, and Wellbeing Champions. Mellor’s vision is for all members of its community to ‘Be the best you can be’ and it is committed to providing:
• A planned and relevant curriculum
• A learning environment that supports linguistic and cultural diversity
• A professional environment in which all staff have the opportunity to develop their thinking and professional practice
The science subject leader is Saleha Patel who is an experienced teacher and associate assistant head teacher.
Mellor School has been using Snap Science across the school for four years and have now transitioned to the second edition.
WHY MELLOR PRIMARY SCHOOL CHOSE TO ADOPT SNAP SCIENCE
To provide professional support for staff – Snap Science provides comprehensive support to deliver the Science National Curriculum for a large staff with a range of different experience and expertise in planning, teaching and assessing science.
To ensure progression – Snap Science is underpinned by a clear and expert progression of both the conceptual and disciplinary knowledge in the National Curriculum, ensuring that science learning builds logically over time. So that children learn disciplinary knowledge in a relevant and progressive way – Snap Science aligns with Ofsted’s recommendations, ensuring that children are taught to Work Scientifically in every lesson.
To help manage staff workload
– The national curriculum has been organised into 6 manageable modules per year, each containing a sequence of learning steps organised over 5–8 lessons, ensuring that science concepts and skills are all taught and learned effectively. Snap Science provides detailed lesson planning, which supports teachers by providing clear guidance on prior learning, key intended learning and next steps.
To allow for flexibility and teacher autonomy – Snap Science fits easily into Mellor’s whole school curriculum and its systems for planning and assessment. It provides a solid foundation that enables lessons to be easily modified to fit children’s diverse learning needs, the school context and to integrate other resources.
To support the strong focus on the development of oracy across all subject areas – This is particularly important in a school where 96% of students speak English as an additional language. Snap Science includes explicit vocabulary instruction, identifying Tier 2, and Tier 3 scientific terms. It also encourages children’s curiosity through questions, supports their vocabulary development, and fosters their articulation of scientific ideas.
To enable a learning environment that puts the child first – Snap Science lessons are engaging and hands-on. Children are encouraged to share contributions from their own experiences and interests.
To support practice in assessment for learning – Snap Science builds assessment for learning strategies into every lesson, building on children’s prior learning, supporting formative feedback, and developing children’s metacognition by ensuring that they always reflect on what they have learned.
To enable accurate and meaningful tracking of children’s progress –Snap Science provides clear guidance for teachers to help them recognise when children have met a National Curriculum objective and a straightforward system for recording achievement.
THE IMPACT OF SNAP SCIENCE
An interview with Science Lead, Saleha Patel
Teaching is now more confident and efficient, as Snap Science provides a solid framework that can be easily adapted to individual classroom needs.
Teachers no longer waste time searching for scattered resources – everything they need is conveniently accessible in one place.
Children make steady progress, building a strong foundation of key concepts and skills. Teachers feel prepared and confident discussing the curriculum with inspectors, articulating clearly what is taught at each year level and how it connects across the years. Workload is well-managed with Snap Science, enabling seamless cross-year planning. The Focus is on learning, not finding activities to do.
“You’ve got the exciting lesson for the pupils, but you’ve also got the knowledge that its been constructed to teach the key knowledge and skills.”
Pupils genuinely enjoy science, make notable progress, and understand its relevance to themselves, their community, and the world.
Every lesson builds scientific vocabulary while encouraging children to ask thoughtful questions, articulate their understanding, and effectively communicate their learning. Snap’s Excel-based assessment tracker integrates smoothly into the school’s system, allowing teachers to monitor progress in both conceptual and disciplinary knowledge while identifying students who need additional support.
THE BENEFITS OF SNAP SCIENCE SECOND EDITION
The slimmed-down version of the original Snap Science edition is highly valued for its fewer lessons and clearer module titles. The progression is very clear and offers the right level of detail. Subject leads are able to monitor progression easily.
Teachers appreciate knowing exactly what key knowledge needs to be taught, with one noting, “The new version of Snap Science does a really good job of that.”
It aligns well with the school’s Learning Journey approach and provides subject knowledge for teachers at the right depth, along with explanations of commonly held misconceptions, which are especially appreciated. The consistent lesson structure, combined with varied pedagogic strategies and content, is well-received by both teachers and children. Snap Science 2nd Edition is easy to manage and suitable for all teachers, from early career to experienced, regardless of their science background.
MELLOR TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCE OF USING SNAP SCIENCE
(interview with Year 1 and Year 5 teachers)
Snap Science provides a strong foundation that can be tailored to fit children’s language needs and experiences, with an emphasis on prioritising vocabulary. It encourages teachers to actively engage with lessons rather than passively follow scripted plans, offering a flexible professional support system instead of a rigid programme.
This approach boosts teacher confidence, reduces workload, and focuses on key learning to help educators retain and apply knowledge effectively.
Hands-on experiences, such as handling fish and materials, significantly enhance engagement and create memorable moments for children. Lessons also value children’s personal experiences and connect classroom learning to their home lives, such as sharing stories about their pet fish or visits to the fishmongers. Additionally, the use of video and picture resources is highly valued in enriching the learning experience.
CHILDREN’S EXPERIENCE OF SNAP SCIENCE LESSONS (interview with Year 5 pupils following Materials lesson)
The pupils at Mellor are excited about science, with many naming it as one of their favorite subjects. They particularly enjoy hands-on learning and practical experiments, which make their science lessons memorable and engaging.
Testing ideas through investigations is preferred over simply reading about them, as it allows them to explore and understand the world around them. Pupils recognise science as a part of daily life, citing examples like electricity, healthy eating, and environmental care. They see its importance for future careers in fields such as biology and chemistry and value learning how to test materials for different properties and answer questions by conducting experiments.
Writing conclusions at the end of experiments helps them reflect on what they’ve learned, and they view science as a way to improve the world—whether by solving environmental challenges or creating better materials and inventions. They also understand that scientific progress relies on testing, refining, and improving ideas over time.
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