At Alkerden, we believe science is fundamental in helping learners understand the world around them, from the smallest living organisms to the vastness of space, from everyday materials to complex systems. Our science curriculum aims to: 

• Ignite and nurture learners’ natural curiosity about how things work, encouraging questioning, exploring, observing, and experimenting. 

• Develop scientific knowledge and conceptual understanding across biology, chemistry and physics, so learners appreciate the interconnections in the natural world. 

• Build scientific skills, including observation, classification, fair testing, predicting, measuring, recording and drawing conclusions, enabling learners to conduct investigations with confidence. 

• Expand learners’ scientific vocabulary and their ability to articulate ideas clearly and accurately, both verbally and in writing. 

• Provide meaningful, real-world contexts that show how science relates to everyday life and global issues, fostering awareness of the environment, health, materials and change. 

• Ensure the science curriculum is inclusive and accessible so that every learner, regardless of background or ability, has the opportunity to succeed and grow. 

Through this curriculum, we hope to develop lifelong scientific thinkers, curious, critical, informed and respectful of the world around them. 

• Science is taught across all key stages, from Early Years through to Year 6. From the earliest years, learners encounter the natural world, explore materials, plants, animals and phenomena, and grow their scientific awareness. 

• Opportunities beyond the classroom, outdoor learning, local environmental investigations, the use of resources for home experiments or activities, help enrich the curriculum and bring science to life. 

• Differentiation and support ensure all learners access the full curriculum. Practical tasks, visual aids, adapted resources and scaffolding work allow learners of differing needs to engage meaningfully. Challenge tasks, open-ended investigations and extension opportunities encourage more able learners to stretch themselves. 

• Cross-curricular links and real-life relevance are woven into science work: learners might explore environmental issues, the human body, habitats, seasonal changes, materials in everyday use, helping them see science as part of everyday life, not isolated lessons. 

• Topics cover a range of scientific disciplines: life processes and living things, materials and their properties, forces, light, sound, earth and space, and other areas appropriate to age and stage, allowing learners to build a broad and balanced understanding of science. 

• Each topic begins with key vocabulary and foundational ideas, building progressively so knowledge and skills deepen over time. Repeated exposure, review and gradual complexity ensure that learning is embedded and consolidated. 

• Lessons are enquiry-based and practical. Learners are encouraged to ask questions, make observations, carry out experiments or investigations, gather data, interpret results and draw conclusions. Teachers support this process by modelling scientific thinking, guiding practical work and explicitly teaching scientific vocabulary. 

By the time learners leave Alkerden, our science curriculum ensures that they: 

• Have a strong knowledge base in biology, chemistry and physics, and understand key scientific concepts and vocabulary. 

• Think and act like scientists: able to observe carefully, ask questions, design and carry out simple investigations, record data, interpret results and draw reasoned conclusions. 

• See science as relevant and meaningful, understanding how science affects their daily lives, health, environment and the wider world. 

• Communicate scientific ideas clearly and confidently, both in discussion and in writing, using appropriate vocabulary. 

• Maintain curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world, with the confidence to explore, question and learn beyond the classroom. 

• Are well-prepared for the next stage of their education, equipped with scientific understanding, enquiry skills and a mindset of respect for evidence, enquiry and the natural world. 

The impact of our science curriculum is visible in learners who ask thoughtful questions, show enthusiasm in investigation, recall and use scientific vocabulary correctly, collaborate responsibly during experiments and talk confidently about what they have learnt. Over time, their scientific understanding deepens, misconceptions are addressed, and they build the skills to approach new problems independently and creatively. 

• BBC Bitesize (KS1)
• BBC Bitesize (KS2)
• Science Kids
• National Geographic Kids

• Science at Home: Experiment Ideas
• Primary Science Teaching Trust: Science Fun at Home
• 11 Science Resources for Parents
• Easy Science for Kids