Science

If you require any additional information regarding the curriculum other than that stated below, Skills Booklets are available from the school office which show all the objectives that children will be taught in all year groups for each subject. These booklets will be sent out at the start of each academic year.

Additionally, you can find the National Curriculum at https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/overview or ask for a copy from the school office.

Science

Children are given opportunities to investigate and discover at first hand and to ask questions about the world in which they live. They learn to understand how and why things are as they are, why bricks wear away, why children grow, why electricity is dangerous as well as useful and many other things which we accept as part of our lives.

As children move through the school their scientific skills develop, to include not only experimenting but also observing, classifying, predicting, interpreting and communicating with others. Our children really enjoy science.

All children will develop:

an enquiring mind and a scientific approach to problem solving
an awareness of continuing scientific advances and their impact on society
the ability to relate science to everyday life through the use of everyday materials and situations
attitudes of curiosity, tolerance and perseverance
good attitudes towards health and safety

Great Paxton Science Curriculum Map

As a school, we always have mixed year groups but where these are throughout the school can change often. Therefore we track the coverage of science for all pupils very carefully, making sure that by the end of the key stage, children have been taught all areas. This sometimes means that children are learning objectives from different year groups.

For 2016-2017, the objectives to be covered by each class is as follows:

Lime Class

Mixed Year Group – Year 1/2

Scientific Area	Unit title	Statutory Requirements	Timescale
Biology Y2	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.	2016-2017
Biology Y2	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 micro-habitats 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.	2016-2017
Chemistry Y2 Biology Y2	Everyday materials Animals including humans	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. 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.	2016-2017

Maple Class

Year 3

Year 3 Overview:

Scientific Area	Unit title	Statutory Requirements	Timescale
Biology	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.	2016-2017
Biology	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.	2016-2017
Chemistry	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.	2016-2017
Physics	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.	2016-2017
Physics	Forces and magnets	compare how things move on different surfaces notice that some forces need contact between two 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 two poles predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.	2016-2017

Willow Class

Mixed Year Group – Year 4/5

Scientific Area	Unit title	Planning/Teaching Ideas	Timescale
Biology	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.	2016-2017
Biology	Animals, including humans	describe the changes as humans develop to old age.	2016-2017
Chemistry	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.	2016-2017
Physics	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.	2016-2017
Physics	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.	2016-2017

Birch Class

Year 6

Scientific Area	Unit title	Planning/Teaching Ideas
Chemistry Y5	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.	2016-2017
Physics Y5	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.	2016-2017
Biology Y6	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.	2016-2017
Physics Y5	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.	2016-2017
Physics Y6	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.	Spring 2015