Please see the links below which show how children’s knowledge and skills should progress from year 1 to year 6.

Welcome to Science at Bessemer Primary School

Inspiring young scientists every day

What is Science at Bessemer like?

Science at Bessemer is all about curiosity, discovery, and hands-on learning. We help children make sense of the world around them by encouraging them to ask questions, explore ideas, and build their understanding through fun and practical experiences.

What Do Children Learn?

Our science curriculum is built around three main areas:

1. Biology – Living Things and Their Habitats

Children learn about animals, plants, and how humans grow and change. They investigate habitats, food chains, and life cycles.

2. Chemistry – Everyday Materials

Pupils explore materials such as wood, metal, water, and plastic. They investigate how materials change, and what happens when they are heated, cooled, mixed, or dissolved.

3. Physics – Forces, Light, Sound, and Space

Children explore topics like shadows, magnets, electricity, and gravity. They ask and investigate big questions such as “Why do we have day and night?” or “How do objects move?”

How Do We Teach Science?

Children learn to think and work like scientists by using the 5 types of scientific enquiry:

Comparative and Fair Testing – comparing things to see what happens under different conditions while keeping tests fair and controlled.
Pattern Seeking – collecting data to spot patterns or relationships, like how the size of a shadow changes throughout the day.
Observing Over Time – watching how things change over time, such as how plants grow or ice melts.
Identifying and Classifying – grouping and sorting objects or living things based on their characteristics.
Researching – using books, videos, or websites to find out scientific information that can’t be tested directly in class.

These enquiry types are introduced from Nursery and built upon throughout each year group. In Key Stage 1, children ask simple questions, observe closely, and begin to record what they see. By Key Stage 2, pupils are planning and conducting their own investigations, using equipment to measure, presenting their findings in charts and graphs, and drawing evidence-based conclusions.

 Progression in Science: From Nursery to Year 6

 Nursery Science Curriculum

In Nursery, your child will learn about themselves, their families, and the world around them through fun themes like All About Me, Farm, Mini-beasts, and Changes.

·       Discover how people and animals grow and change.

·       Explore different cultures and communities.

·       Learn about farm animals, insects, and plants — what they need to live and grow.

·       Go on nature walks and local trips to observe seasonal changes and the environment first hand.

·       Use tools like magnifiers to observe bugs and plants up close.

·       Understand the importance of caring for animals, plants, and their habitats.

·       Reflect on how they’ve grown since starting Nursery.

All activities encourage curiosity, respect for nature, and an understanding of diversity.

 Reception Science Curriculum

Your child will explore the natural world through exciting topics like My Story, Space, Under the Sea, Growing, and Dinosaurs.

·       Learn about similarities and differences in people, animals, plants, and environments.

·       Explore seasonal changes and how things grow and change over time.

·       Discover features of space and planets, sea creatures, and dinosaurs, and why they look and live the way they do.

·       Make observations, draw pictures, and talk about changes in nature.

·       Learn about healthy eating and taking care of their bodies.

·       Compare their local environment to other places around the world.

·       Understand simple scientific processes like reversible and irreversible changes (e.g. baking or planting).

All topics encourage curiosity, observation, and understanding of the world around them.

 Year 1 Science Curriculum

Over the year, your child will explore six key topics linked to the seasons, animals, plants, and materials.

·       Seasonal Change:

Observe how weather, daylight, and nature change throughout the seasons by taking measurements and making regular observations.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Identify common animals (including pets and wild animals) and understand their diets (carnivores, herbivores, omnivores). Study the human body and senses.

·       Everyday Materials:

Explore materials such as wood, plastic, glass, and metal. Compare their properties and test for waterproofness, absorbency, and elasticity.

·       Plants:

Identify common garden and wild plants, including trees. Learn about their basic parts and observe how plants change throughout the year.

Throughout the year, your child will develop scientific skills like observing, classifying, testing, and spotting patterns through hands-on investigations.

 Year 2 Science Curriculum

This year, your child will study animals, materials, habitats, and plants through focused science topics.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Learn how animal babies grow into adults and what animals (including humans) need to survive. Understand the importance of hygiene, healthy eating, and exercise.

·       Uses of Everyday Materials:

Compare materials like wood, metal, plastic, and glass. Investigate how materials can be changed by bending, squashing, twisting, or stretching.

·       Living Things and Their Habitats:

Identify living, dead, and non-living things. Explore a variety of habitats and micro-habitats, and understand simple food chains.

·       Plants:

Observe how seeds and bulbs grow into plants and learn what they need to grow well, such as water, light, and warmth.

Throughout the year, your child will build scientific skills like classifying, observing changes over time, testing materials, and conducting research.

 Year 3 Science Curriculum

This year, your child will study rocks, forces, light, animals (including humans), and plants through practical, engaging science topics.

·       Rocks:

Compare different types of rocks, explore how fossils are formed, and learn that soil is made from rocks and organic matter.

·       Forces and Magnets:

Investigate how objects move on different surfaces, explore magnetic attraction and repulsion, and identify everyday magnetic materials.

·       Light:

Learn that we need light to see, explore reflection and shadows, and understand how to stay safe in the sun.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Explore nutrition, identify the need for a balanced diet, and learn how skeletons and muscles support movement and protection.

·       Plants:

Identify parts of a plant and their functions. Investigate what plants need to grow well and explore how water moves through plants and how seeds are formed and dispersed.

Throughout the year, your child will develop scientific skills such as classifying, fair testing, observing over time, researching, and spotting patterns.

 Year 4 Science Curriculum

This year, your child will explore living things, materials, sound, the human body, and electricity through hands-on science topics.

·       Living Things and Their Habitats:

Learn how living things can be grouped and classified. Explore local and wider habitats and understand how environmental changes can affect living things.

·       States of Matter:

Compare solids, liquids, and gases. Observe how materials change state when heated or cooled, and explore the water cycle including evaporation and condensation.

·       Sound:

Investigate how sounds are made and how they travel. Explore pitch, volume, and how distance affects sound, using instruments and data loggers.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Study the human digestive system, identify types of teeth and their functions, and learn about food chains — including producers, predators, and prey.

·       Electricity:

Build simple electrical circuits, identify their components, and explore how switches work. Investigate conductors and insulators and classify appliances by power source.

Throughout the year, your child will continue to develop scientific skills including classifying, observing changes, fair testing, researching, asking questions, and identifying patterns in data.

 Year 5 Science Curriculum

Your child will explore six main science topics throughout the year.

·       Properties and Changes of Materials:

Learn about material properties like hardness, solubility, and conductivity, and investigate reversible and irreversible changes.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Study human development from baby to old age.

·       Forces:

Understand gravity, air resistance, water resistance, and friction. Explore how levers, pulleys, and gears work as simple machines.

·       Living Things and Their Habitats:

Learn about the life cycles of mammals, amphibians, insects, and birds, and explore how plants and animals reproduce.

·       Earth and Space:

Discover the movement of the Earth, Moon, and planets, and understand how day and night occur.

Children develop scientific skills through classifying, fair testing, observing over time, and research.

 Year 6 Science Curriculum

This year focuses on six key areas of science, helping children deepen their understanding before moving on to secondary school.

·       Light:

Understand how light travels in straight lines, how we see objects, and why shadows form.

·       Living Things and Their Habitats:

Classify living things, including micro-organisms, and learn reasons for classification.

·       Electricity:

Explore electrical circuits, understand how voltage affects components, and learn how to draw circuit diagrams.

·       Evolution and Inheritance:

Learn how living things have changed over time. Study fossils, adaptation, and natural selection.

·       Animals Including Humans:

Investigate the circulatory system and understand how diet, exercise, drugs, and lifestyle impact health.

Children engage in investigations, observations, research, and pattern spotting to build strong scientific understanding.

How Can You Help at Home?

You don’t need to be a scientist to support your child’s learning. Here are a few simple ways to encourage scientific thinking at home:

Be curious together — ask questions like “Why do you think that happens?”
Explore outside — parks, gardens, and nature reserves are full of science opportunities
Watch child-friendly science videos or documentaries
Read books about animals, space, or inventions
Let your child help with cooking, mixing, pouring, and measuring

Let’s Celebrate Science Together

We are proud to nurture confident, curious, and creative learners. Science is a subject full of wonder, and your involvement helps bring it to life both at home and in school.

If you have questions or would like to get involved in our science activities, please contact your child’s teacher or Ned Symes, science subject leader. We’d love to hear from you.

PRE LEARNING PACKS Summer

Please use the links below to access the pre learning backs for our Summer topics. 

PRE LEARNING PACKS Spring 2

Please use the links below to access the pre learning backs for our Spring 2 topics. Some year groups are continuing with their Spring 1 science topic. 

PRE LEARNING PACKS Spring 1

Please use the links below to access the pre learning backs for our Spring 1 topics. 

PRE LEARNING PACKS AUTUMN 2

Please use the links below to access the pre learning backs for our autumn 2 topics. 

Pre learning packs Autumn 1

Please use the links below to access the pre learning packs for our Autumn 1 topics.