KS2 Science Curriculum

KS2 Science Curriculum Lesson Packs:

Year 3 Science Packs

Year 4 Science Packs

Year 5 Science Packs

Year 6 Science Packs

What are the National Curriculum programmes of study for KS2?

There are a number of statutory requirements that must be taught across Key Stage 2 for Science. These include:

• Working scientifically
• Plants
• Animals, including humans
• Rocks
• Light
• Forces (and Magnets)
• Living things and their habitats
• States of Matter
• Sound
• Electricity
• Properties and changes of materials
• Earth and Space
• Evolution and inheritance

Some of these strands are taught across multiple year groups in KS2 (such as Living things and their habitats) whilst others are only visited in one particular year group (such as Evolution and inheritance).

Working scientifically

The 'working scientifically' objectives in the KS2 Science Curriculum are not intended to be taught as discrete lessons but to be embedded across the different strands and programmes of study. The National Curriculum says:

‘Working scientifically’ is described separately in the programme of study, but must always be taught through and clearly related to the teaching of substantive science content in the programme of study.

Lower KS2 statutory requirements for 'Working scientifically':

During years 3 and 4, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:

• 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.

Upper KS2 statutory requirements for 'Working scientifically':

During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:

• 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.

Plants

The 'Plants' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 3.

Year 3 statutory requirements for 'Plants':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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

The 'Animals, including humans' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.

Year 3 statutory requirements for 'Animals, including humans':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Year 4 statutory requirements for 'Animals, including humans':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Year 5 statutory requirements for 'Animals, including humans':

Pupils should be taught to:

• describe the changes as humans develop to old age.

Year 6 statutory requirements for 'Animals, including humans':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Rocks

The 'Rocks' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 3.

Year 3 statutory requirements for 'Animals, including humans':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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

The 'Light' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 3 and Year 6.

Year 3 statutory requirements for 'Light':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Year 6 statutory requirements for 'Light':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Forces (and Magnets)

The 'Forces and Magnets' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 3 and Year 5.

Year 3 statutory requirements for 'Forces and Magnets':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Year 5 statutory requirements for 'Forces':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Living things and their habitats

The 'Living things and their habitats' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.

Year 4 statutory requirements for 'Living things and their habitats':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Year 5 statutory requirements for 'Living things and their habitats':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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 statutory requirements for 'Living things and their habitats':

Pupils should be taught to:

• describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals
• give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics

States of matter

The 'States of Matter' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 4.

Year 4 statutory requirements for 'States of matter':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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

The 'Sound' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 4.

Year 4 statutory requirements for 'Sound':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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

The 'Electricity' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 4 and Year 6.

Year 4 statutory requirements for 'Electricity':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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 6 statutory requirements for 'Electricity':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Properties and changes of materials

The 'Properties and changes of materials' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 5.

Year 5 statutory requirements for 'Properties and changes of materials':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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

The 'Earth and space' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 5.

Year 5 statutory requirements for 'Earth and space':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Evolution and inheritance

The 'Evolution and inheritance' programme of study for KS2 is taught in Year 6.

Year 6 statutory requirements for 'Evolution and inheritance':

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

PlanBee has a complete, ready-to-teach Whole School Science Curriculum Pack, which includes built-in knowledge and skills progression. Free documentation explains what is taught in which scheme of work and details how knowledge and skills are progressed throughout the KS2 Science programmes of study.