Science Curriculum
SCIENCE
Intent: Developing a love of science and natural curiosity to access and explore the world.
At Bignold, our Science Curriculum is underpinned by cognitive science, building on children’s prior knowledge, and is enriched with retrieval practice to support long-term retention. Supported by the CUSP curriculum, science learning at Bignold is sequenced into meaningful and connected ‘chunks’ of content to reduce the load on the working memory as well as creating coherent and strong long-term memories.
Each area of study draws upon prior learning, for example, in the EYFS, pupils may learn about The Natural World through daily activities and exploring their locality and immediate environment. This is revisited and positioned so that new and potentially abstract content in Year 1, such as Animals, including humans, is related to what children already know. This makes it easier to cognitively process. This helps to accelerate new learning as children integrate prior understanding.
Our ambitious interpretation of the National Curriculum places knowledge, vocabulary, working and thinking scientifically at the heart of our principles, structure and practice. CUSP and in turn the Bignold Science Curriculum precisely follow the units outlined in the National Curriculum with additional focus on vocabulary development and experience in order to meet the specific needs of our school demographic.
Year groups will study the following units:
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 1 |
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Biology: Parts of the body / senses
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Earth Science: Seasonal change Throughout the year |
Chemistry: Materials and their properties |
Biology: Parts of the body / senses
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Biology: Identify common animals and plants |
Biology: Identify common animals and plants |
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 2 |
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Chemistry: The uses of everyday materials
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Biology: Differentiate living, dead and non-living.
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Biology: Simple food chains & habitats.
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Biology: Growing seeds and bulbs (water, light, warmth)
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Biology: Identify common plants
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Biology: Basic needs of animals and offspring. |
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 3 |
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Biology: Animals and humans - nutrition
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Biology: Animals including humans. Muscles and skeletons |
Chemistry / Earth Science Rocks, soils and fossils |
Biology: Plants: Life cycle -functions of flowering plants |
Physics: Forces – friction and magnets |
Physics: Light |
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 4 |
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Chemistry: States of matter Solid, liquid and gas.
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The water cycle
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Biology: Teeth and digestion
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Physics: Sound
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Physics: Electricity |
Biology: Living things and their habitats Grouping and classification |
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 5 |
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Chemistry: Properties and changes of materials
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Chemistry: Properties and changes of materials
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Physics: Forces |
Physics: Earth and Space
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Biology: Life cycles of plants and animals.
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Animals including humans : Describe changes as humans develop to old age (wellbeing) |
Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
Year 6 |
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Biology: Classification |
Physics: Electricity |
Biology: Circulatory System |
Biology: Evolution and inheritance |
Physics: Light |
SRE (wellbeing)
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