A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world. 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.
In their time at Birches Green, children will build up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts. They are encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They will understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes.
Science is taught for a minimum of one hour a week, although this is sometimes taken as 2 hours every other week. Alongside this, we observe British Science Week, providing a week where every afternoon has a science focus.
Science lessons engage the children with practical course content and provide exciting “wow” experiences.
.
The coverage is as follows:
Year 3
|
Plants
- I can identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers
- I can 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
- I can investigate the way in which water is transported within plants
- I can explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.
|
|
Animals, including humans
- I can 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
- I can identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
|
|
Rocks
- I can compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties
- I can describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock
- I can recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.
|
|
Light
- I can recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light
- I can notice that light is reflected from surfaces
- I can recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
- I can recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a solid object
- I can find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
|
|
Forces and magnets
- I can compare how things move on different surfaces
- I can notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
- I can observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others describe magnets as having two poles
- I can predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.
- I can 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
|
Year 4
|
Living things and their habitats
- I can recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
- I can explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
- I can recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
|
|
Animals, including humans
- I can describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans
- I can identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
- I can construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.
|
|
States of matter
- I can compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
- I can 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)
- I can identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
|
|
Sound
- I can identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
- I can recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear
- I can find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
- I can find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it
- I can recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases.
|
|
Electricity
- I can identify common appliances that run on electricity
- I can construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
- I can 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
- I can recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
- I can recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.
|
Year 5
|
Living things and their habitats
- I can describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
- I can describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.
|
|
Animals, including humans
- I can describe the changes as humans develop to old age.
|
|
Properties and changes of materials
- I can 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
- I know that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution, and describe how to recover a substance from a solution
- I can use knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating
- I can give reasons, based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, for the particular uses of everyday materials, including metals, wood and plastic
- I can demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes
- I can 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
- I can describe the movement of the Earth, and other planets, relative to the Sun in the solar system
- I can describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth
- I can describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies
- I can use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night and the apparent movement of the sun across the sky.
|
|
Forces
- I can explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object
- I can identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces
- I can 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
- I can 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
- I can give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics.
|
|
Animals, including humans
- I can identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
- I can recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
- I can describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.
|
|
Evolution and inheritance
- I can recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago
- I can recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but normally offspring vary and are not identical to their parents
- I can identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution.
|
|
Light
- I can 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
- I can 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
- I can use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.
|
|
Electricity
- I can associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
- I can 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
- I can use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
|
