Science
Our key priorities for teaching and learning in science.
- Children enjoy their learning and are engaged and inspired.
- Children take the lead and investigate and make discoveries for themselves.
- Children ask questions that deepen their understanding.
- Learning links to real life experiences, including the local environment and other subjects.
- Children learn from their mistakes and explore concepts practically.
- Children are taught the correct scientific vocabulary.
- Learning is shared across the school.
- High quality resources are available to support learning.
Click below to find out to find out about our children's science learning.
Year 1
Autumn 1 - Who am I?
Year 1 learn to say which parts of the body are linked to each sense, name basic parts of the body, observe, identify and sort using all of the senses, and collect data and place it on a pictogram.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Autumn 2 - Celebrations?
Year 1 learn to observe things using simple equipment, use their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions, know the difference between the object and material it is made from, know the names of some materials, be able to describe simple properties of materials and identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including
roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers.
Focus area - Everyday Materials
Spring 1 - Polar Adventures
Year 1 learn to describe and compare different animals, classify animals, describe the properties of materials, and compare and group materials that are transparent, translucent, opaque, waterproof, flexible.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Spring 2 - Treasure Island
Year 1 learn to carry out a simple test and say what happened, match pictures to name plants and animals, describe and compare the structure of a fish with humans and talk about why they have chosen to use a material e.g. it is waterproof, transparent, floats.
Focus area - Plants
Summer 1 - On Safari
Year 1 learn to ask simple questions using question stems, help sort questions to show how they can be answered, carry out a simple test with support and say what happened, identify and name common invertebrates and describe and compare the similarities between humans and invertebrates.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Summer 2 - Holiday
Year 1 learn to plan and carry out a simple test and collect data, use their data to answer their test question, identify and name a variety of common animals, talk about animals with shells that live in the sea, classify everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock.
Focus area - Working scientifically
Year 2
Autumn 1 - Healthy Me
Year 2 learn to perform a simple test to find out how far sneezes spread, use their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions, gather and record data in a pictogram and answer questions and know that exercise, hygiene and being happy are important to be a healthy person.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Autumn 2 - Little Master Chef
Year 2 learn to plan and carry out a simple comparative test, use results to answer their question and choose the best material for the job, classify food into groups, say what they need to eat and drink to stay alive and healthy, follow hygiene and safety rules when preparing and cooking food, choose foods that help to keep the body healthy and know which part of a plant they are eating.
Focus area - Working scientifically
Spring 1 - Materials Monster
Year 2 learn to carry out a simple comparative test to classify a material, name different materials, describe the properties of a material and know that some materials can be be changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
Focus area - Uses of everyday materials
Spring 2 - Move it
Year 2 learn to ask questions and decide how to answer them, perform a simple comparative test to answer a question, use observations to answer a question and describe how a shape has been changed by squashing, bending, twisting and stretching.
Focus area - Uses of everyday materials
Summer 1 - Young Gardeners
Year 2 learn to ask questions about plants, use data to describe what a plant needs to grow, name vegetable plants, herbs and flowers, describe how a seed germinates and say which materials could be used for plant containers or for a cloche.
Focus area - Plants
Summer 2 - Habitats and food chains
Year 2 learn to compare the differences between things that are living, dead and never lived, explore differnet animals, plants and their habitats.
Focus area - Living things and their habitats
Year 3
Autumn 1 - Earth Rocks
Year 3 learn to compare and group rocks, test for and describe some properties of rocks, decide the best way to record and present their results and describe some ways that rocks are made.
Focus area - Rocks
Autumn 2 - Food and our bodies
Year 3 learn to identify different food groups and how they make up a balanced diet, compare the diets of different animals, explain the importance of the skeleton and muscles, know the names of different parts of the skeleton and identify and group animals with and without skeletons.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Spring 1 - Mirror, mirror
Year 3 learn to sort materials into those that are good and bad reflectors of light, describe what a reflection in a mirror looks like, name some sources of light, build a mirror maze and make light change direction, draw a diagram that explains how shadows are formed, sort materials into those that are opaque, translucent and transparent.
Focus area - Light
Spring 2 - How does your garden grow?
Year 3 learn to identify the different parts of a plant and explain their functions, record their findings with simple drawings, labelled diagrams and neat tables and describe how water is transported in plants.
Focus area - Plants
Summer 1 - Opposites attract
Year 3 learn to explain the difference between a contact and a non-contact force, plan comparative and fair tests and collect accurate results, use the results of their tests to explain some properties of magnets, name the three metals that can be made into a magnet, explain the difference between a magnetic and a non-magnetic material and list ten uses of magnets.
Focus area - Magnets
Summer 2 - We are astronauts
Year 3 learn to describe the appearance of the near and far side of the Moon, investigate a model rocket to see what makes it work well, design and build a shock absorber for a model Moon lander and name many foods that you could eat in space.
Focus area - Working scientifically
Year 4
Autumn 1 - What's that sound?
Year 4 learn to suggest ways of producing sounds, identify similarities and differences between various sounds, recognise a vibration, distinguish between pitch and loudness, suggest how to change the sound made by an instrument and recognise how sound changes with distance.
Focus area - Sound
Autumn 2 - Living things
Year 4 learn to recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways, identify plants and animals found locally using simple keys, make observations of animals and plants, recognise that we need to care for the environment and give examples of things we can do and describe how the environment may change over time.
Focus area - Living things and their habitats
Spring 1 - Looking at states
Year 4 learn to group materials based on simple properties and as solids, liquids and gases through simple observations, name some solids and liquids, describe that when ice melts it turns to a liquid, describe how to change water into ice and steam and steam into water and describe examples where these changes occur.
Focus area - States of matter
Spring 2 - Teeth and eating
Year 4 learn to identify the position of the stomach and intestines, recognise that living things need food to survive, understand that animals have different teeth, depending on what they eat, use simple equipment, record their observations in tables and observe and compare similarities and differences.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Summer 1 - Power it up!
Year 4 learn to describe some of the dangers associated with mains electricity, construct and test a simple series circuit, identify some reasons why an appliance or component might not work in a circuit, test some materials to see if they are conductors or insulators.
Focus area - Electricity
Summer 2 - Brilliant bubbles
Year 4 learn to make and record detailed observations, suggest how to investigate the effect of changing bubble mixtures, identify new questions as a result of observations or tests and suggest ways of improving an experiment.
Focus area - Working scientifically
Year 5
Autumn 1 - Out of this world
Year 5 learn to explain what the Solar System is and name the eight planets in the Solar System in order of their distance away from the Sun.
Focus area - Earth and space
Autumn 2 - Materials world
Year 5 learn to compare the properties of a range of materials, explore reversible and irreversible changes, draw on the results of their tests to explain why some materials are used and identify some factors that affect dissolving.
Focus area - Properties and changes of materials
Spring 1 - Let's get moving
Year 5 learn to explain what makes objects fall to the Earth, plan a fair test to find out how well different objects fall, decide on new question to test as a result of their observations, plan a fair test to investigate different types of friction and water resistance and make some detailed observations and present them clearly.
Focus area - Forces
Spring 2 - Circle of life
Year 5 learn to explain how plants reproduce, explain how new plants can be grown from cuttings and bulbs, describe the differences in the life cycles of different animals, describe the process of reproduction in some animals and report and present their findings from enquiries.
Focus area - Living things and their habitats
Summer 1 - Growing up and growing old
Year 5 learn to describe some of the changes that happen as children grow up into adults, give an explanation of what happens during pregnancy, describe how various mammals have different gestation periods and describe some of the changes that happen during puberty.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Summer 2 - Super scientists
Year 5 learn to describe five ways in which scientists work, name five famous scientists and say what they are famous for, name five different forensic tests, explain how forensic tests help provide evidence to solve a crime and seek out and write a high quality news story.
Focus area - Working scientifically
Year 6
Autumn 1 - Classifying critters
Year 6 learn to recognise fungi, plants and microbes, name a range of living things, observe carefully in order to identify living things and use a branching key.
Focus area - Living things and thier habitats
Autumn 2 - Staying alive
Year 6 learn to recognise the need to eat a healthy balanced diet, take and record measurements, understand the function of parts of the circulatory system and explain the effect of drugs on the body.
Focus area - Animals, including humans
Spring 1 - We're evolving
Year 6 learn to observe closely and explain differences in appearance, describe how parents and offspring look similar but different, explain simply how things change and evolve over time, recognise the time scales involved in evolution, explain how evidence can be used to support ideas and present data in a variety of ways.
Focus area - Evolution and inheritance
Spring 2 - Let it shine
Year 6 learn to recognise that when light is blocked, a shadow is formed, recognise that light travels from a source, describe how when light hits a shiny surface, it is reflected, explain that light sources are seen when light from them enters the eyes, use results to make predictions and suggest further tests to carry out and present these in a table.
Focus area - Light
Summer 1 - Electrifiying
Year 6 learn to suggest ways of changing the brightness of a bulb in a circuit, draw circuit diagrams and construct circuits from diagrams using conventional symbols, set up a circuit which can be used to investigate an idea, use knowledge about electrical conductors and insulators to answer questions about circuits and represent information about circuits clearly and scientifically with symbols.
Focus area - Electricity
Summer 2 - We are dinosaur hunters
Year 6 learn to explain what their results might mean, make and present detailed observations, decide if they agree with other people’s test results, weigh up different theories and decide which has the strongest evidence, find some evidence to support a theory about why dinosaurs became extinct and use their results to make predictions and suggest further tests.
Focus area - Working scientifically