Science

'Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding'.               Brian Greene, Theoretical Physicist.

 Sunnyfields Primary School understands the need for all pupils to develop their scientific ability as an essential component of all subjects and as a subject in its own right. A good understanding of scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding helps to support pupils work across the curriculum.

What we want to achieve

At Sunnyfields Primary School we believe that 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. 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 importance 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.

Science in our school is about developing children’s ideas and ways of working that enable them to make sense of the world in which they live through investigation, as well as using and applying process skills. The staff at Sunnyfields ensure that all children are exposed to high quality teaching and learning experiences thus developing their scientific enquiry and investigative skills. They are immersed in scientific vocabulary, which aids children’s knowledge and understanding not only of the topic they are studying, but of the world around them. We intend to provide all children, regardless of their background, with a broad and balanced science curriculum, through which they are able to hone their skills of scientific enquiry and see themselves as scientists.

We ensure that all children are provided with rich learning experiences that aim to:

• Prepare our children for life in an increasingly scientific and technological world today and in the future.
• Help our children acquire a growing understanding of the nature, processes and methods of scientific ideas.
• Help develop and extend our children’s scientific concept of their world.
• Build on our children’s natural curiosity and developing a scientific approach to problems.
• Encouraging open-mindedness, self-assessment, perseverance and developing the skills of investigation – including: observing, measuring, predicting, hypothesizing, experimenting, communicating, interpreting, explaining and evaluating.
• Develop the use of scientific language, recording and techniques.
• Develop the use of computing in investigating and recording.
• Develop an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and an understanding of how it can be protected.
• Make links between science and other subjects.

How we want to achieve it

In ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in science, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school.

Planning for science at Sunnyfields gives full coverage of ‘The National Curriculum programmes of study for Science 2014’ and, ‘Understanding of the World’ in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It is a process in which all teaching staff are involved, and children are consulted. This enables us to ensure that our curriculum is adapted and extended to meet the needs of all pupils. A variety of resources are used to support teachers in their planning and implementation of the science curriculum for their year. They plan so that they engage their children’s interests, use support staff effectively and include current events where appropriate. Outdoor learning is an integral element of the science curriculum at Sunnyfields and our science plans ensure that each year group gets multiple opportunities to make effective use of the incredible facilities we have on the school site, including our Ecology Garden.  

Science is taught as discrete blocked units to ensure complete coverage. Scientific topics are revisited in different years and with increasing complexity as children progress through the school to allow for the continual development and secure retention of knowledge and skills.

Click here for the Science Curriculum Overview  

 Progression of skills- Working scientifically

• asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways
• observing closely, using simple equipment
• performing simple tests
• identifying and classifying
• using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions
• gathering and recording data to help in answering questions.

•  asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions 
• identifying differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

•  planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
• using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
• reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
• identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments

Science progression of knowledge - light, electricity, sound, forces and magnets, Earth and space, seasonal changes. (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

 Year 6 

• understand 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

•  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.

• 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

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.

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.

•  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

Seasonal changes

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

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.

Science progression of knowledge - Everyday materials/rocks/properties and changes of materials/states of matter (Chemistry) 

Everyday materials

Year 1

• 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

• identify and compare the uses 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

States of matter

Year 4

• 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

Properties and changes of materials

Year 5

• compare and group together everyday materials based on evidence from comparative and fair tests, 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 tat 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.

Rocks

Year 3

• 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.

Science Progression of knowledge - Animals including humans/living things and their habitats/plants (Biology)

Animals including humans

Year 1

• name a variety of common animals that are birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, 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 (birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals including pets
• identify, name, draw and label the basic parts the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense.

Year 2

• 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.

Year 3

• 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 animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.

Year 4

• 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

Year 6

• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and explain 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.

Living things and their habitats

Year 2

• 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.

 Year 4

• 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.
• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

Year 5

• 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

• 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

Evolution and inheritance

Year 6

• 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.

Plants 

Year 1

• identify and name a variety of common plants, including garden plants, wild plants and trees, and those classified as deciduous and evergreen
• identify and describe the basic structure of a variety of common flowering plants, including roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers.

Year 2

• 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.

Year 3

• identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem, 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.