Curriculum Information for parents and carers

Our aim at Peninsula East Primary Academy is to develop the enjoyment and understanding of Science, Technology and Engineering and to assist in the achievement and progression of Scientific skills. Children are encouraged to ask questions to deepen their own understanding, and also to design, perform and evaluate their own experiments, observing the wonders of Science in the natural world.

Our Primary Years Programme (PYP) curriculum combined with our hands-on Science approaches, fosters and creates inquisitive minds that helps prepare our children for life in the 21st century.

The National Curriculum guidance for Science at both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 is used to structure our curriculum and ensure that it is incorporated into our PYP lessons coherently. As our children progress through the school, they learn Science through a variety of topics (e.g. plants, everyday materials and light) that are grouped into Physics, Biology and Chemistry. These topics are periodically revisited and their knowledge is developed and built on, as the children grow and move through the school to form an understanding of scientific subjects.

AN OUTLINE OF SCIENCE TOPICS COVERED IN

YEARS 1 - 6

Year 1

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)
identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense

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

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 changes across the 4 seasons
observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies

Year 2

Animals Including Humans

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

Use of Everyday 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

Plants

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

Living Things and their Habitats

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

Year 3

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 Including Humans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Year 5

Living Things and their Habitats

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

describe the changes as humans develop to old age

Properties and Changes of Materials

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

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

Year 6

Living Things and their Habitats

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

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 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

All year groups have a ‘Working Scientifically’ aspect for the children to learn and use a range of Scientific Enquiry Skills e.g. creating a fair test, recording data, observing changes and taking measurements. As the children progress through the school these skills are revisited and developed allowing them to be embedded and used freely during their Science lessons.

Wherever appropriate, cross-curricular links to other subjects, such as Literacy, Maths, Computing, History, Geography and Physical Education (PE), are encouraged to enrich the children’s learning and further their understanding of how Science contributes to our everyday lives.

At Peninsula East Primary Academy, children are not formally tested in Science at the end of Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2. However, we believe that Science is of great importance and links into many different subjects. Therefore, teachers carefully monitor the children’s learning so that they can work and plan the PYP Inquiries to address each child’s needs.

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AN OUTLINE OF SCIENCE TOPICS COVERED IN

YEARS 1 - 6

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

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