Science
Intent
We recognise the importance of Science in every aspect of daily life. As one of the core subjects taught in Primary Schools, we give the teaching and learning of Science the prominence it requires.
The Scientific area of learning is concerned with increasing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of our world, and with developing skills associated with Science as a process of enquiry. It will develop the natural curiosity of the child, encourage respect for living organisms and the physical environment and provide opportunities for critical evaluation of evidence.
Alongside the aims and focuses of the National Curriculum, our science teaching allows children opportunities to:
- Develop knowledge and understanding of the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics;
- Develop the ability to ask questions about the world around them, developing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science as a whole
- Develop understanding of the nature, processes and methods of Science through different types of science enquiries that help them to answer scientific questions about the world around them;
- Be equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of Science, today and for the future.
- Develop the essential scientific enquiry skills to deepen their scientific knowledge.
- Use a range of methods to communicate their scientific information and present it in a systematic, scientific manner, including computing
- Use diagrams, graphs and charts.
- Develop a respect for the materials and equipment they handle with regard to their own, and other children’s safety.
- Develop an enthusiasm and enjoyment of scientific learning and discovery.
The National Curriculum will provide a structure and skill development for the science curriculum being taught throughout the school, which is now linked, where possible to the theme topics to provide a creative scheme of work, which reflects a balanced programme of study.
Children have weekly lessons in Science throughout Key Stage 1 and 2, using various programmes of study and resources. In Early years, science is taught through the children learning about the world around them in their learning through play.
We endeavour to ensure that the Science curriculum 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.
Statement of Implementation
Teachers create a positive attitude to science learning within their classrooms and reinforce an expectation that all children are capable of achieving high standards in science. Our whole school approach to the teaching and learning of science involves the following;
- Science will be taught in planned and arranged topic blocks by the class teacher. This is a strategy to enable the achievement of a greater depth of knowledge.
- Through our planning, we involve problem solving opportunities that allow children to find out for themselves. Children are encouraged to ask their own questions and be given opportunities to use their scientific skills and research to discover the answers. This curiosity is celebrated within the classroom. Planning involves teachers creating engaging lessons, often involving high-quality resources to aid understanding of conceptual knowledge. Teachers use precise questioning in class to test conceptual knowledge and skills, and assess children regularly to identify those children with gaps in learning, so that all children keep up.
- We build upon the learning and skill development of the previous years. As the children’s knowledge and understanding increases, and they become more proficient in selecting, using scientific equipment, collating and interpreting results, they become increasingly confident in their growing ability to come to conclusions based on real evidence.
- Working Scientifically skills are embedded into lessons to ensure these skills are being developed throughout the children’s school career and new vocabulary and challenging concepts are introduced through direct teaching. This is developed through the years, inkeeping with the topics.
- Teachers demonstrate how to use scientific equipment, and the various Working Scientifically skills in order to embed scientific understanding. Teachers find opportunities to develop children’s understanding of their surroundings by accessing outdoor learning and workshops with experts.
Statement of Impact
The successful approach results in a fun, engaging, high-quality science education, that provides children with the foundations for understanding the world. Our engagement with the local environment ensures that children learn through varied and first hand experiences of the world around them. So much of science lends itself to outdoor learning and so we provide children with opportunities to experience this. Through various workshops, trips and interactions with experts and local charities, children have the understanding that science has changed our lives and that it is vital to the world’s future prosperity. Children learn the possibilities for careers in science as a result of our community links and connection with national agencies such as the STEM association. Pupil voice is used to further develop the Science curriculum, through questioning of pupil’s views and attitudes to Science to support the children’s enjoyment of science and to motivate learners
The Science curriculum fosters a healthy curiosity in children about our universe and promotes respect for the living and non-living. We believe science encompasses the acquisition of knowledge, concepts, skills and positive attitudes.
To develop children's scientific knowledge and understanding of the nature, processes and methods of science, for now and the future.
Please click here to see how the progression of skills is planned for in science.
Please click the links below to see the progression of vocabulary in science.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Annual Overview
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Autumn 1 |
Autumn 2 |
Spring 1 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 1 |
Summer 2 |
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Reception |
Space |
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I make simple records of how things change – link to life cycles |
I sort or group things in my own way – link to classifying animals |
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Year 1 |
Identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the body. Human age sequencing. Baby visit. |
Identify and name a variety of common animals.
Using our super senses – say which part of the body is associated with each sense and perform simple tests. |
Identify and name a variety of everyday materials. Describe simple physical properties of everyday materials. Groups together everyday materials. |
Identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Describe and compare the structure of a variety of animals. |
Seasonal changes. Observe changes across the four seasons. Describe weather and day lengths. |
Identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees. Identify and describe structures of plants and trees. |
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Year 2 |
Materials: Identify & compare the suitability of everyday materials including wool, metal, plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and cardboard for particular uses. Find out how the shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting & stretching. Why did the houses burn so easily? What were they made of? What did they build the new houses with? Why? What are your houses made of? Find the different materials in our homes. |
Animals including humans: Notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
Find out about & describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food, air).
Describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, & hygiene.
Alpacas - research |
Plants: Observe & describe how seeds & bulbs grow into mature plants.
Find out & describe how plants need water, light & a suitable temperature to grow & stay healthy. |
Living things & their habitats: Explore & compare the differences between things that are living, dead, & things that have never been alive.
Identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited & describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals & plants, & how they depend on each other.
Identify & name a variety of plants & animals in their habitats, including microhabitats.
Describe how animals obtain their food from plants & other animals, using the idea of a food chain, and identify & name different sources of food. Seaside – rock pools; animals that live in or around the seaside |
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Year 3 |
Rocks ~ compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock. Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.
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Forces and Magnets Compare how things move on different surfaces. Notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance. Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others. Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials. Describe magnets as having 2 poles. Predict whether 2 magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing. |
Light Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light. Notice that light is reflected from surfaces. Recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes. Recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a solid object. Find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change. |
Plants Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. Explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal. |
Animals incl. human Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat. Identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. |
Consolidation time |
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Year 4 |
Sound Identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating. Recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear. Find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it. Find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it. Recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.
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States of matter Compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases. Observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C). Identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
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Electricity Identify common appliances that run on electricity. Construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. Identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery. Recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. Recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.
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Animals including humans Describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans. Identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions. Construct and interpret a variety of food chains, Identifying producers, predators and prey. |
Living things and their habitats Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways. Explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment. Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things. |
Consolidation time |
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Year 5 |
Properties and Changes of Materials Compare characteristics of material. Dissolving to form a solution – reversing the change. Filtration/sieving/ evaporation to separate mixtures reversible/ irreversible changes.
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Earth and Space Name the 8 planets describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system. Describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth Describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies. Use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night, and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky. |
Forces Gravity and resistance forces. Newton meters. Air resistance. Friction and surfaces Water resistance Isaac Newton. |
Animals, including humans Describe the changes as humans develop to old age. Timelines of growth. Gestation periods of other animals compared to humans. |
Living Things and their habitats Classify living things according to observable characteristics. Classify plants, animals, and micro-organisms. Vertebrates and invertebrates. |
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Year 6 |
Evolution and inheritance recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago -recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents -identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution. |
Light -recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines -use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye. -explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eye. -use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them. |
Living things and their environment – classification -describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals -give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics. |
Animals including humans - human circulatory system -identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood -recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function. -describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.
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Electricity -associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit -compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches -use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram. |
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