Science

Level Expected at the End of EYFS

Early Learning Goals that link most closely to the Science National Curriculum

Understanding the World (The World)

Children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another.

Intent

At St Norbert’s, we strive to develop in all young people a lifelong curiosity and interest in the sciences. When planning for the science curriculum, we intend for children to have the opportunity, wherever possible, to learn through varied systematic investigations, leading to them being equipped for life to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them. As children progress through the year groups, they build on their skills in working scientifically, as well as on their scientific knowledge, as they develop greater independence in planning and carrying out fair and comparative tests to answer a range of scientific questions. At St Norbert’s, we ensure that children have a varied, progressive and well-mapped-out science curriculum that provides the opportunity for progression across the full breadth of the science national curriculum for KS1 and KS2.

Implementation

The acquisition of key scientific knowledge is an integral part of our science lessons. The progression of skills for working scientifically are developed through the year groups and scientific enquiry skills are of key importance within lessons. Each lesson has a clear focus. Scientific knowledge and enquiry skills are developed with increasing depth and challenge as children move through the year groups. Our pupils complete investigations and hands-on activities while gaining the scientific knowledge for each unit. These allow teachers to assess children’s levels of understanding at various points in the lesson. They also enable opportunities to recap concepts where necessary. The sequence of lessons helps to embed scientific knowledge and skills, with each lesson building on previous learning. There is also the opportunity to regularly review and evaluate children’s understanding. Activities are effectively differentiated where necessary so that all children have an appropriate level of support and challenge.

Impact

Science progress is measured through a child’s ability to know more, remember more and explain more. The impact of using the full range of resources included in the science unit will also be seen across the school with an increase in the profile of science. The learning environment across the school will be more consistent with science technical vocabulary displayed, spoken and used by all learners. Whole-school and parental engagement will be improved through the use of science-specific home learning tasks and shared use of knowledge organisers. Children who feel confident in their science knowledge and enquiry skills will be excited about science, show that they are actively curious to learn more and will see the relevance of what they learn in science lessons to real-life situations and also the importance of science in the real world.

Year group
Advent 1
Advent 2
Lent 1
Lent 2
Pentecost 1
Pentecost 2
Year 1
Animals including Humans- Ourselves
identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with  each sense.
Seasonal Changes
observe changes across the 4 seasons;
Animals including humans
identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals;
identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores;
describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish,
amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals including pets);
Plants
identify and name a variety of common wild and garden plants, including deciduous and evergreen trees;
identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants,  including trees.
Seasonal Changes
observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies.
Everyday Materials
distinguish between an object and the material from which it is made;
identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water, and rock;
describe the simple physical properties of a variety of everyday materials;
compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on
the basis of their simple
physical properties.
Year 2
Animals including Humans
notice that animals, including   humans, have offspring which   grow into adults;
describe the importance for   humans of exercise, eating   the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene.
 
Materials
 identify and compare the   suitability of a variety of   everyday materials, including
wood, 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   and stretching.
Food Chains- Living Things
describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food;
 
Plants
observe and describe how
seeds and bulbs grow into
mature plants;
Plants
find out and describe how plants need water, light and a   suitable temperature to grow   and stay healthy.
Significant Scientists
use their ideas and observations to explain how doctors use science;
test materials to find out whether they are waterproof;
describe an ocean food chain identify renewable and non-renewable sources of energy;
describe the invention of wind turbines;
 
Year 3
Animals Including Humans/ Skeleton Structure
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;
 
Animals Including Humans/ Skeleton Structure
identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
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.
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.
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 an opaque object;
find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
Magnets and forces
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.
Year 4
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.
 
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.
Digestion and teeth
describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans;
 
Digestion and teeth
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.
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.
Materials – 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.
Year 5
Space
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
explain that unsupported
objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object;
identify the effects of air
resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces;
 
Forces
recognise that some
mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.
Materials
compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including
their hardness conductivity  (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets;
give reasons, based on
evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including  metals, wood and plastic;
Materials
know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution;
use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated including through filtering, sieving and evaporating;
demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes;
explain that some changes result in the formation of new  materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible,  including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.
Living things
describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird;
describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.
Year 6
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 eyes;
use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them
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
Living things
describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and
differences, including  micro-organisms, plants  and animals;
 give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on  specific characteristics.
Animals including humans
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.
Inventors
give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on
specific characteristics;
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;
recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information  about living things that
inhabited the Earth millions of years ago;
use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
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.