Science is a highly valued part of our core curriculum. To ensure that our pupils are given the best opportunities to develop as scientists, they are taught in year groups as opposed to classes. This helps to create a very clear progression as they move through the school. 

Our Curriculum Overview

Our science curriculum here at Bridekirk Dovenby School covers all aspects of the National Curriculum and more. We ensure that all of our children get a thorough knowledge of the following:

Our curriculum is also designed so that different topics fall at appropriate times of the year, such as plants in spring and summer. Topics such as Seasonal Changes take place throughout the year so pupils can see them in real time.

How does children's learning progress through their time at Bridekirk?

Our Science curriculum is designed to provide the children with more knowledge as they progress through the school. Below are some of the key scientific concepts they will learn about and how it changes as they get older. 

Working Scientifically

Year 1 and Year 2

To ask questions and see they can be answered in different ways.

To spot, name and group different things.

To perform simple tests.

To use what I see to answer questions.

Year 3 and Year 4

To ask questions and use experiments to answer them.

To set up experiments, comparisons and fait tests.

To make observations and take accurate measurements.

To gather, record and present data.

To use results to conclude, predict, improve and ask more questions.

To spot differences, similarities and changes.

To use scientific evidence to answer questions.

Year 5 and Year 6

To plan different types of enquiries and control variables.

To accurately take measurements.

To record data and results.

To use test results to make predictions for other fair tests.

To report and represent findings.

To use evidence to support or refute ideas.

Animals including Humans

Year 1

To spot and name common animals.

To spot and name carnivores, herbivores and Omnivores.

To describe and compare common animals.

To name parts of the human body.

Year 2

To explore the life-cycle of animals

To describe what animals need to survive

To describe why exercise, healthy food and keeping clean are important.

Year 3

To find what animals need to eat to be healthy.

To understand why vertebrates have skeletons.

Year 4

To describe the human digestive system.

To identify the different types of teeth.

To construct and interpret food chains.

Year 5

To describe the changes as humans develop to old age.

Year 6

To identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system and the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood.

To recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle.

To describe the ways nutrients and water are transported within animals.

Plants

Year 1

To spot and name garden plants.

To spot and describe the structure of flowering plants.

Year 2

To describe how seeds grow into plants.

To find what plants need to stay healthy.

Year 3

To spot, name and describe parts of a flowering plant.

To explore what different plants need to grow.

To investigate how water is transported in plants.

To explore what different parts of a plant do during its life cycle.

Living Things and Habitats

Year 2

To find the difference between living, dead and never been alive.

To find how habitats provide for different plants and animals.

To spot and name lots of different plants and animals.

To describe food chains and food sources.

Year 4

To group living things in a variety of ways.

To explore and use classification keys.

To recognise that environments can change and this can endanger living things.

Year 5

To compare life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects and birds.

To describe the life process of reproduction.

Year 6

To describe how living things are classified.

To give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific features.

Everyday Materials

Year 1

To look at objects and what they’re made of.

To spot and name lots of everyday materials.

To say what everyday materials look and feel like.

To spot, name and group different materials.

Year 2

To explore materials and what they are used for.

To discover how shapes of solids can be changed.

Year 5

To compare and group materials by properties.

To know that some materials dissolve to a solution and can be brought back.

To decide how mixtures might be separated.

To give reasons for the particular uses of everyday materials.

To demonstrate reversible changes.

To explain that some changes are irreversible.

Electricity

Year 4

To identify common electrical appliances.

To construct a simple series circuit.

To identify a complete circuit.

To understand switches.

To recognise some conductors and insulators.

Year 6

To associate the brightness of a lamp, or the volume of a buzzer with the voltage of cells used in the circuit.

To compare and give reasons for the variation in how components work.

To use recognised symbols in a circuit diagram.

Light

Year 3

To recognise that light is needed to see things and dark is the absence of light.

To notice that light is reflected from surfaces.

To recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous.

To recognise that shadows are formed when a light source is blocked and find why they change.

Year 6

To recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines.

To understand that things are seen as they reflect light into the eye.

To explain that we see things because light travels from light sources, to objects, to the eye.

To explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.

Forces and Magnets

Year 3

To compare how things move on different surfaces.

To notice that some forces need contact, but magnetic forces can act at a distance.

To observe how magnets affect different materials and other magnets.

To compare and group materials by whether they are magnetic or not.

To describe magnets as having 2 poles.

To predict magnet attraction.

Year 5

To explain how the force of gravity affects us.

To identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction.

To recognise that some mechanisms allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.

Seasonal Changes

Year 1

To watch changes across the 4 seasons.

To watch and describe the weather and the length of the days.

Rocks

Year 3

To compare a variety of rocks.

To describe how fossils are formed.

To recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

States of matter

Year 4

To compare and group by solid, liquid or gas.

To see what happens when materials are heated or cooled.

To explore evaporation and the water cycle.

Sound

Year 4

To identify how sounds are made.

To recognise that vibrations travel through something to the ear.

To find patters between a sound and the object that made it.

To find patters between volume and strength of the vibrations that made it.

To recognise that sounds get fainter as they get further away.

Earth and Space

Year 5

To describe the movement of Earth and other planets relative to the sun in the solar system.

To describe the movement of the moon relative to the Earth

To describe the sun, Earth and moon as approximately spherical bodies.

To use the idea of the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night.

Evolution and Inheritance

Year 6

To recognise that fossils are clues to how living things have changed over time.

To recognise that living things produce offspring of the same kind.

To identify how animals and plants are adapted to their environment and how this can lead to evolution.