A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.  

National Curriculum 2014 

Curriculum Intent 

At St Patrick's Catholic Primary our science curriculum aims to ensure that all pupils:  

• develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics 

• 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 

• are equipped with the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future 

Curriculum Implementation 

At St Patricks, science is taught for two hours per week, our teaching and implementation of the Science Curriculum is based on the National Curriculum, ensuring a well-structured approach to the subject.  
 
Detailed long and medium planning is in place to ensure engaging curriculum content and 
systematic revisiting of key concepts and bodies of knowledge to deepen learning. 

Vocabulary is explicitly taught in all units to ensure that scientific terminology is understood. These words are carefully chosen to ensure that they are transferred to other subjects.  

 
Enrichment includes Science Week which is planned into our calendar to raise awareness of significant events or topic and follows the annual them of the British Science week. Within our curriculum, we also implement opportunities for outdoor learning and forest school. 

National and worldwide issues are addressed as they arise through whole school and class assemblies for example, climate change, impact of plastics and littering. Each year group, explores the lives of key scientist within each topic, these are planned to ensure diversity between genders.  
 

Below is on outline of our curriculum offer in Science from EYFS to Year 6. 

EYFS 

In Understanding the World, children will: - Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants; understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons. 

They will plant seeds and care for growing plants, whilst learning the need to respect and care for our environment. The children will have opportunities to explore different materials with similar or different properties and changing states of matter. 

Key Stage 1 

Year One 

Plants 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Animals, including humans 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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) 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• observe changes across the 4 seasons 

• observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies. 

Everyday materials 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 Two 

Living things and their habitats 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• explore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive 

• identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other 

• identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including microhabitats 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• observe and describe how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants 

• find out and describe how plants need water, light and a suitable temperature to grow and stay healthy 

Animals, including humans 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults 

• find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air) 

• describe the importance for humans of exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygiene 

Uses of everyday materials 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

 
Key Stage 2 

Year Three 

Plants 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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, including humans 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Rocks 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Light 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

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. 

Year Four 

Living things and their habitats 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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. 

Animals, including humans 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

States of matter 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Sound 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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. 

Electricity 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Year Five 

Living things and their habitats 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Animals, including humans 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• describe the changes as humans develop to old age. 

Properties and changes of materials 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• compare and group together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets 

• 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 

• give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic 

• 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. 

Earth and space 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

• recognise that some mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. 

Year Six 

Living things and their habitats 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Evolution and inheritance 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Pupils should be taught to: 

• 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 

Curriculum Impact 

Throughout each block of study, teachers carefully plan to embed and assess the children’s 
knowledge using a range of formative assessment strategies. These include retrieval questions, vocabulary assessments, extended writes, quick quizzes, use of knowledge organisers and self and peer assessment.  

A range of other activities take place across the year to measure the impact of learning in Science including marking written work, book looks, pupil interviews, staff meetings, annual reports to parents and learning walks. Assessment data is collected once a year and is analysed by the Science Lead. Statutory assessment (teacher judgement) data is collected at the end of EYFS, KS1 and KS2 and is reported to parents.