ABSTRACT
Bill Thornley describes in some detail a piece of work carried out with, and by, top infant children at St Cleophas C. E. School, a new small open-plan primary school close to the South Docks on the River Mersey. At St Cleopas science plays a very important part in the infant curriculum, not as a separate subject but as a way of working which involves children in observing, thinking, questioning and investigating. In addition to developing language, science is used to help extend children's understanding of the local environment, to provide them with concrete experiences essential for understanding and to give practical problems for the children to solve. Regular staff meetings, inter-school visiting, encouragement to attend local in-service courses and the involvement of the head in taking groups of children for investigations or in working alongside the teacher with the whole class have helped to develop the work.
