St Mary's Science
"Real science can be far stranger than science fiction and much more satisfying"
Stephen Hawking
We love science at St. Mary's! Our exciting science projects are sequenced to develop both children’s substantive and declarative knowledge, and if possible, make meaningful links to other projects. These links allow for children to embed their substantive knowledge in new and often real-life contexts. The sequencing of projects ensures that children have the substantive knowledge and vocabulary to comprehend subsequent projects fully. Each project’s place in the year has also been carefully considered. For example, projects that involve growing plants or observing animals are positioned at a suitable time of year to give children the best possible opportunity to make first-hand observations. Within all the science projects, disciplinary knowledge is embedded within substantive content.
'Understanding the world' - Science in Reception
All of our science projects in reception fall within one of the four specific areas of learning in the EYFS framework - 'Understanding the World'. This area of learning involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology, and the environment.
Reception Topics
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Exploring Autumn
This project teaches children about the natural changes that happen during the season of autumn, including how the weather changes, why trees lose their leaves and how wild animals prepare for winter. |
Starry Night
This project explores the differences in the world at night compared to during the day. The children will find out about nocturnal animals. |
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Winter Wonderland
This project teaches children about the changes that happen during winter, including the types of weather associated with winter. It also explores places that have snow all year round and the types of animals that live there. |
Ready Steady Grow
This project explores themes, including where food comes from, what plants and animals need to grow and survive and what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. |
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Signs of Spring
This project teaches children about the changes that happen during the spring, including weather. |
Dangerous Dinosaurs
This exciting project teaches children how different animals that roamed Earth millions of years ago are related to animals that live on Earth today. |
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Puddles and Rainbows
This mini project teaches children about the weather that happens during spring and allows them to explore natural phenomena, including rainbows. It supports them to explore colour in the natural world. |
Animal Safari
This project teaches children how to look after animals and the importance of caring for our local and global environments. |
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Creep Crawl and Wriggle
This mini project teaches children about invertebrates that live in their gardens and local environment. |
Splash!
This project teaches children about water, including floating and sinking, freezing and melting, and why it is important for living things to stay hydrated. |
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Big Wide World
This project teaches children about how living things and climates differ around the world.
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Science in KS1
Science in Year 1
In Year 1, children start the autumn term with Everyday Materials, linking this learning to the design and technology project Shade and Shelter. In the Human Senses project, they learn about parts of the human body and those associated with the senses. In the spring project Seasonal Changes, they learn broadly about seasonal changes linked to weather, living things and day length. They revisit some of this learning in the following summer term project Plant Parts. They finish with the project Animal Parts, linking back to their knowledge about body parts and senses and identifying commonalities.
| Autumn Term | |
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Everyday Materials
This project teaches children that objects are made from materials. They identify a range of everyday materials and their sources. Children investigate the properties of materials and begin to recognise that a material's properties define its use. |
Human Senses
This project teaches children that humans are a type of animal known as a mammal. They name and count body parts and identify similarities and differences. They learn about the senses, the body parts associated with each sense and their role in keeping us safe. |
| Spring Term | |
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Seasonal Change
This project teaches children about the seasons, seasonal changes and typical seasonal weather and events. They learn about measuring the weather and the role of a meteorologist. Children begin to learn about the science of day and night and recognise that the seasons have varying day lengths in the UK. |
| Summer Term | |
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Plant Parts
This project teaches children about wild and garden plants by exploring the local environment. They identify and describe the basic parts of plants and observe how they change over time. |
Animal Parts
This project teaches children about animals, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and invertebrates. They identify and describe their common structures, diets, and how animals should be cared for. |
Science in Year 2
In Year 2, children begin the autumn term with the project Human Survival, learning about the survival needs of humans, before expanding to study animals within their habitats in the project Habitats. Building on learning from Year 1, children learn about the uses of materials in the spring project Uses of Materials and begin to understand changes of materials through simple physical manipulation, such as bending and twisting. The spring Plant Survival project also explores survival, with children observing what plants need to grow and stay healthy. Finally, in the project Animal Survival, children bring together learning from the autumn term, thinking about what animals need to survive.
| Autumn Term | |
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Human Survival
This project teaches children about the basic needs of humans for survival, including the importance of exercise, nutrition and good hygiene. They learn how human offspring grow and change over time into adulthood. |
Habitats
This project teaches children about habitats and what a habitat needs to provide. They explore local habitats to identify and name living things and begin to understand how they depend on one another for food and shelter. |
| Spring Term | |
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Uses of Materials
This project teaches children about the uses of everyday materials and how materials' properties make them suitable or unsuitable for specific purposes. They begin to explore how materials can be changed. |
Plant Survival
This project teaches children about the growth of plants from seeds and bulbs. They observe the growth of plants firsthand, recording changes over time and identifying what plants need to grow and stay healthy. |
| Summer Term | |
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Animal Survival
This project teaches children about growth in animals by exploring the life cycles of some familiar animals. They build on learning about the survival of humans by identifying the basic needs of animals for survival, including food, water, air and shelter. |
Progression in Science at St Mary's
Science programme of study - Year 1 & 2